Ceragon Networks (NASDAQ:CRNT) versus Ribbon Communications (NASDAQ:RBBN) Head to Head Contrast

Ceragon Networks (NASDAQ:CRNT) and Ribbon Communications (NASDAQ:RBBN) are both small-cap technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation and risk.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

13.3% of Ceragon Networks shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 70.9% of Ribbon Communications shares are held by institutional investors. 19.0% of Ceragon Networks shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 4.0% of Ribbon Communications shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Ceragon Networks has a beta of 1.36, indicating that its stock price is 36% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ribbon Communications has a beta of 1.36, indicating that its stock price is 36% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Ceragon Networks and Ribbon Communications, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ceragon Networks	1	1	4	0	2.50
Ribbon Communications	1	0	5	0	2.67

Ceragon Networks currently has a consensus target price of $3.75, indicating a potential upside of 81.16%. Ribbon Communications has a consensus target price of $3.52, indicating a potential upside of 76.72%. Given Ceragon Networks’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Ceragon Networks is more favorable than Ribbon Communications.

Profitability

This table compares Ceragon Networks and Ribbon Communications’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ceragon Networks	-0.95%	2.74%	1.49%
Ribbon Communications	1.96%	19.91%	6.98%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Ceragon Networks and Ribbon Communications”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ceragon Networks	$338.73 million	0.56	-$2.09 million	($0.03)	-69.00
Ribbon Communications	$844.56 million	0.42	$39.64 million	$0.08	24.88

Ribbon Communications has higher revenue and earnings than Ceragon Networks. Ceragon Networks is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ribbon Communications, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Ribbon Communications beats Ceragon Networks on 10 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ceragon Networks

Ceragon Networks Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides wireless transport solutions for cellular operators and other wireless service providers in North America, Europe, Africa, the Asia Pacific, the Middle East, India, and Latin America. The company's solutions use microwave and millimeter wave radio technology to transfer telecommunication traffic between base stations, small/distributed cells, and the service provider's network. It also provides IP-20 all-outdoor solutions, such as IP-20C, IP-20C-HP, IP-20S, IP-20E, and IP-20V; IP-20 split-mount, all-indoor solutions comprising IP-20N/IP-20A, IP-20F, and IP-20G; and IP-50 disaggregated solutions, including IP-50E, IP-50EX, IP-50C, IP-50CX, and IP-50FX for various short-haul, long-haul, fronthaul, small cells, routing, and enterprise access applications. In addition, the company offers network and radio planning, site surveys, solutions development, installation, network rollout, wireless transport network auditing and optimization, maintenance, training, and other services. It serves internet service providers, municipalities, government, utilities, and maritime communications broadcasters and defense, as well as oil and gas companies, public safety organizations, business and public institutions, broadcasters, energy utilities, and private communications networks. The company sells its products through direct sales, original equipment manufacturers, resellers, distributors, and system integrators. The company was formerly known as Giganet Ltd. and changed its name to Ceragon Networks Ltd. in September 2000. Ceragon Networks Ltd. was incorporated in 1996 and is headquartered in Rosh Ha'Ayin, Israel.

About Ribbon Communications

Ribbon Communications Inc. provides communications technology in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. It operates through two segments, Cloud and Edge, and IP Optical Networks. The Cloud and Edge segment provides software and hardware products, solutions, and services for voice over internet protocol communications, voice over long-term evolution, and voice over 5G communications, and unified communications and collaboration. It also offers session border controllers; and network transformation products, such as signaling products, call controllers, media gateways, and application servers. This segment serves private, public, or hybrid cloud infrastructures, as well as data centers, enterprise premises, and service provider networks. The IP Optical Networks segment provides hardware and software products and solutions for IP networking, switching, routing, and optical transport for technologies, such as 5G, distributed cloud computing, and corresponding applications. It also offers multiple solutions, including 5G-native solutions for mobile-backhaul, metro and edge aggregation, core networking, data center interconnect, multi-service access, and transport solutions for wholesale carriers. This segment serves utilities, government, defense, finance, transportation, and education and research industries, as well as service providers and enterprises. The company was formerly known as Sonus Networks, Inc. and changed its name to Ribbon Communications Inc. in November 2017. Ribbon Communications Inc. was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Plano, Texas.