Comparing Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX) & Uniti Group (NASDAQ:UNIT)

Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX) and Uniti Group (NASDAQ:UNIT) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, dividends and earnings.

Dividends

Equinix pays an annual dividend of $17.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Uniti Group pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 10.1%. Equinix pays out 153.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Uniti Group pays out 146.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Uniti Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for Equinix and Uniti Group, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Equinix	0	5	14	1	2.80
Uniti Group	0	1	2	0	2.67

Equinix presently has a consensus target price of $944.63, suggesting a potential upside of 4.61%. Uniti Group has a consensus target price of $7.17, suggesting a potential upside of 20.85%. Given Uniti Group’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Uniti Group is more favorable than Equinix.

Volatility & Risk

Equinix has a beta of 0.71, meaning that its share price is 29% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Uniti Group has a beta of 1.31, meaning that its share price is 31% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Equinix and Uniti Group”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Equinix	$8.60 billion	10.13	$969.18 million	$11.09	81.43
Uniti Group	$1.15 billion	1.26	-$81.71 million	$0.41	14.46

Equinix has higher revenue and earnings than Uniti Group. Uniti Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Equinix, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

94.9% of Equinix shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 87.5% of Uniti Group shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Equinix shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.4% of Uniti Group shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Equinix and Uniti Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Equinix	12.29%	8.34%	3.18%
Uniti Group	8.82%	-4.12%	2.02%

Summary

Equinix beats Uniti Group on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Equinix

Equinix (Nasdaq: EQIX) is the world's digital infrastructure company . Digital leaders harness Equinix's trusted platform to bring together and interconnect foundational infrastructure at software speed. Equinix enables organizations to access all the right places, partners and possibilities to scale with agility, speed the launch of digital services, deliver world-class experiences and multiply their value, while supporting their sustainability goals.

About Uniti Group

Uniti, an internally managed real estate investment trust, is engaged in the acquisition and construction of mission critical communications infrastructure, and is a leading provider of fiber and other wireless solutions for the communications industry. As of December 31, 2023, Uniti owns approximately 140,000 fiber route miles, 8.5 million fiber strand miles, and other communications real estate throughout the United States.