Top Communication Services Stocks by Return on Assets
Top communication services companies ranked by return on assets, latest annual filings.
What Return on Assets Means for Communication Services Companies
Return on assets divides net income by the whole balance sheet, which makes communication services the hardest sector to read on a single scale. It contains internet platforms and studios that own little beyond servers and content rights, and it contains carriers and cable operators whose spectrum licenses, towers, fiber and set-top equipment run to enormous sums. The two models earn similar money on bases that differ by an order of magnitude.
Why It Matters Less in Communication Services
Ranking the sector on this ratio mostly ranks it by asset intensity. Platforms sit at the top because the audience and the advertising system behind it never entered the accounts, while a network operator earning solid cash on decades of buried infrastructure sits far below. Neither position is a verdict on the business. Within a single model the measure is useful, since it shows which carrier earns more from the same infrastructure and which platform converts attention into profit.
What to Read Alongside
Pair return on assets with Return on Equity to see how much debt the networks carry, Net Margin for profitability free of the asset question, and Total Assets to size the infrastructure behind each name.
| # | Symbol | Company | Sector | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | APP | AppLovin Corporation | Communication Services | 45.92% | $87.26B |
| 2 | JOYY | JOYY Inc. | Communication Services | 27.78% | $4.06B |
| 3 | GOOG | Alphabet Inc. | Communication Services | 22.20% | $3.84T |
| 4 | NFLX | Netflix, Inc. | Communication Services | 19.75% | $266.08B |
| 5 | META | Meta Platforms, Inc. | Communication Services | 16.52% | $1.61T |
| 6 | RDDT | Reddit, Inc. | Communication Services | 16.35% | $26.64B |
| 7 | NTES | NetEase, Inc. | Communication Services | 15.25% | $75.76B |
| 8 | YELP | Yelp Inc. | Communication Services | 15.19% | $1.05B |
| 9 | SPOT | Spotify Technology S.A. | Communication Services | 14.73% | $117.67B |
| 10 | MTCH | Match Group, Inc | Communication Services | 13.75% | $10.38B |
| 11 | NYT | The New York Times Company | Communication Services | 11.48% | $11.40B |
| 12 | IDT | IDT Corporation | Communication Services | 11.34% | $2.03B |
| 13 | QNST | QuinStreet, Inc. | Communication Services | 11.26% | $928.16M |
| 14 | BZ | Kanzhun Limited | Communication Services | 11.13% | $7.29B |
| 15 | WLY | John Wiley & Sons, Inc. | Communication Services | 8.55% | $2.72B |
| 16 | BCE | BCE Inc. | Communication Services | 8.13% | $18.88B |
| 17 | RCI | Rogers Communications Inc. | Communication Services | 7.66% | $17.47B |
| 18 | TIGO | Millicom International Cellular S.A. | Communication Services | 7.63% | $13.14B |
| 19 | PINS | Pinterest, Inc. | Communication Services | 7.59% | $12.02B |
| 20 | CHT | Chunghwa Telecom Co., Ltd. | Communication Services | 7.56% | $37.34B |
| 21 | VSNT | Versant Media Group, Inc. | Communication Services | 7.54% | $4.26B |
| 22 | FOX | Fox Corporation | Communication Services | 7.49% | $24.52B |
| 23 | TME | Tencent Music Entertainment Group | Communication Services | 7.35% | $13.82B |
| 24 | CMCSA | Comcast Corporation | Communication Services | 7.34% | $78.30B |
| 25 | TTD | The Trade Desk, Inc. | Communication Services | 7.20% | $6.04B |
| 26 | MAX | MediaAlpha, Inc. | Communication Services | 6.68% | $629.35M |
| 27 | CRTO | Criteo S.A. | Communication Services | 6.57% | $708.99M |
| 28 | VEON | VEON Ltd. | Communication Services | 6.41% | $5.82B |
| 29 | WB | Weibo Corporation | Communication Services | 6.33% | $1.52B |
| 30 | DIS | The Walt Disney Company | Communication Services | 6.28% | $190.63B |
| 31 | KYIV | Kyivstar Group Ltd. | Communication Services | 5.84% | $3.03B |
| 32 | MOMO | Hello Group Inc. | Communication Services | 5.83% | $639.18M |
| 33 | T | AT&T Inc. | Communication Services | 5.22% | $140.46B |
| 34 | PSO | Pearson plc | Communication Services | 5.19% | $11.00B |
| 35 | TMUS | T-Mobile US, Inc. | Communication Services | 5.01% | $157.61B |
| 36 | AMX | América Móvil, S.A.B. de C.V. | Communication Services | 4.90% | $72.20B |
| 37 | VZ | Verizon Communications Inc. | Communication Services | 4.25% | $178.65B |
| 38 | SKM | SK Telecom Co., Ltd. | Communication Services | 4.10% | $11.71B |
| 39 | WMG | Warner Music Group Corp. | Communication Services | 3.71% | $15.84B |
| 40 | NWS | News Corporation | Communication Services | 3.69% | $18.02B |
| 41 | FWONA | Formula One Group | Communication Services | 3.60% | $20.63B |
| 42 | MSGE | Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corp. | Communication Services | 3.42% | $3.63B |
| 43 | AENT | Alliance Entertainment Holding Corporation | Communication Services | 3.28% | $249.04M |
| 44 | SCHL | Scholastic Corporation | Communication Services | 3.28% | $713.55M |
| 45 | CHTR | Charter Communications, Inc. | Communication Services | 3.23% | $11.70B |
| 46 | SIRI | Sirius XM Holdings Inc. | Communication Services | 2.96% | $9.24B |
| 47 | BILI | Bilibili Inc. | Communication Services | 2.90% | $5.51B |
| 48 | TBLA | Taboola.com Ltd. | Communication Services | 2.63% | $913.13M |
| 49 | ANGI | Angi Inc. | Communication Services | 2.61% | $259.56M |
| 50 | AMCX | AMC Global Media Inc. | Communication Services | 2.27% | $327.52M |
| 51 | LYV | Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. | Communication Services | 2.16% | $40.20B |
| 52 | ROKU | Roku, Inc. | Communication Services | 1.99% | $23.35B |
| 53 | TU | TELUS Corporation | Communication Services | 1.87% | $13.69B |
| 54 | ZD | Ziff Davis, Inc. | Communication Services | 1.29% | $1.98B |
| 55 | TKO | TKO Group Holdings, Inc. | Communication Services | 1.26% | $32.41B |
| 56 | BIDU | Baidu, Inc. | Communication Services | 1.24% | $26.51B |
| 57 | KT | KT Corporation | Communication Services | 1.09% | $8.04B |
| 58 | NXST | Nexstar Media Group, Inc. | Communication Services | 1.00% | $5.08B |
| 59 | SPHR | Sphere Entertainment Co. | Communication Services | 0.79% | $3.97B |
| 60 | STGW | Stagwell Inc. | Communication Services | 0.69% | $2.12B |
| 61 | MSGS | Madison Square Garden Sports Corp. | Communication Services | 0.50% | $9.26B |
| 62 | Z | Zillow Group, Inc. | Communication Services | 0.40% | $7.34B |
| 63 | TDAY | USA TODAY Co., Inc. | Communication Services | 0.10% | $986.62M |
No companies match this search.
How this ranking is built
Companies are ranked by return on assets as reported in their most recent annual filing with the SEC. Figures shown are in US dollars (or percent, as noted), rounded to two decimals.
- Source: annual 10-K / 20-F filings from companies trading on US exchanges (NYSE, Nasdaq, AMEX).
- Fiscal year: whichever annual period the company has most recently filed. Fiscal years don't always align with the calendar year, so the "as of FY" stamp above reflects the most common year across the table.
- Filtered out: warrants, preferred shares, and duplicate listings that share a parent company's financials.
- Size floor: A company qualifies at $1 billion in annual revenue or above, so a small filer with a freak ratio cannot top the list.
- Value range: Only figures above 0% and up to 100% qualify.
- Update cadence: refreshed as companies file new annual reports (typically within 60–90 days of fiscal year end).
Not financial advice. This is a research tool, not a recommendation.
Frequently asked questions
Why do internet platforms rank so far above network operators here?
The productive assets differ in kind. A platform's audience, algorithms and advertiser relationships were expensed as they were created and appear nowhere in total assets, while spectrum, towers, fiber and exchanges are capitalized at cost and stay on the books for decades. Similar profits divided by very different denominators produce very different ratios. Within this sector the measure works best when platforms are compared with platforms and carriers with carriers.
Does a low return on assets make a telecom operator a weak business?
Not by itself. Networks require heavy, long-lived capital before a single subscriber is served, and the ratio treats that capital as a burden rather than as the barrier to entry it also represents. Steady cash generation, contracted subscriber revenue and the cost of replicating the network matter more to the assessment. The ratio describes capital intensity accurately and business quality only partially.