LUMN vs UNIT Stock Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside
LUMN (Lumen Technologies) is an enterprise fiber networking company managing legacy decline while building new digital platform revenues, while UNIT (Uniti Group) is a telecom infrastructure REIT that owns and leases fiber and telecom assets on long-term contracts. Lumen is an operating telecom company facing restructuring challenges; Uniti is a passive fiber infrastructure REIT dependent on its tenant relationships.
LUMN vs UNIT is enterprise fiber telecom operating company (Lumen's restructuring bet on enterprise digital services) versus passive telecom infrastructure REIT (Uniti's net-lease fiber income vehicle) — very different risk profiles within the fiber infrastructure space.
UNIT holds the edge across 3 of 5 key metrics in this comparison. UNIT leads on both 1-year return (+37.35%) and forward P/E quality (-14.32x vs -20.38x for LUMN), a relatively favorable combination of momentum and valuation. UNIT leads on both revenue growth (202.50%) and operating margin (4.14%), suggesting a stronger fundamental setup on both dimensions. Analyst consensus implies meaningfully more upside for LUMN (+26.49%) than for UNIT (+2.43%).
Human Wall Street analysts' price targets, typically implying a ~12-month view — a separate signal from this site's own AI Prediction Signal further down the page, which is a 5-/30-day machine-learning forecast based on price history alone.
- Want exposure to Lumen's restructuring and debt management potential — the company has significant assets in enterprise fiber and the Level 3 network that may be undervalued relative to liabilities
- Value Lumen's federal government and public sector enterprise relationships as long-term revenue contracts supporting the core fiber business
- Accept significant financial risk from Lumen's debt challenges in exchange for potential upside if the restructuring stabilizes and enterprise revenues recover
- Want telecom infrastructure REIT exposure with long-term net lease cash flows from fiber and telecom assets, structured as a yield vehicle with REIT distributions
- Value Uniti Fiber's fiber deployment business as a growth layer on top of the master lease income from Windstream and other tenants
- Accept concentration risk from Windstream as the primary tenant in exchange for the REIT structure's tax efficiency and contracted income stream
| Metric | LUMN | UNIT |
|---|---|---|
| AI scorei | 26.6 | 26.3 |
| AI ranki | #2571 | #2612 |
| Latest closei | $6.40 | $9.45 |
| 1M returni | +4.40% | -8.52% |
| 6M returni | -5.33% | +25.83% |
| 1Y returni | +11.30% | +37.35% |
How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?
| Period | LUMN | UNIT |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y ago | $11.13K (+11.3%) started 2025-09-18 | $13.74K (+37.4%) started 2025-09-18 |
| 5Y ago | $5.03K (-49.7%) started 2021-09-20 | $8.24K (-17.6%) started 2021-09-20 |
| 10Y ago | $2.37K (-76.3%) started 2016-09-19 | $10.95K (+9.5%) started 2016-09-19 |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
| Metric | LUMN | UNIT |
|---|---|---|
| Market capi | $6.23B | $2.47B |
| Trailing P/Ei | N/A | 2.65 |
| Forward P/Ei | -20.38 | -14.32 |
| Price/Salesi | N/A | N/A |
| EV/Revenuei | 1.51 | 3.66 |
| Analyst targeti | $7.64 | $10.42 |
| Target upsidei | +26.49% | +2.43% |
| Metric | LUMN | UNIT |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growthi | -9.30% | 202.50% |
| Earnings growthi | N/A | N/A |
| EPS growthi | N/A | N/A |
| FCF margini | +17.89% | -7.30% |
| Operating margini | -2.89% | 4.14% |
| Profit margini | -8.65% | 30.45% |
| ROIC proxyi | -78.94% | N/A |
| Return on equityi | -78.94% | N/A |
| Dividend yieldi | N/A | N/A |
| Payout ratioi | 0.00% | 0.00% |
| Dividend growth streaki | N/A | No increase yet |
| Betai | 1.81 | 1.40 |
| Debt/equityi | 6203.11 | 6869.97 |
| Current ratioi | 0.96 | 1.22 |
| Quick ratioi | 0.77 | 0.85 |
Over the past year, LUMN and UNIT have moved weakly in the same direction (correlation of 0.26), based on daily returns.
Lower drawdown and smaller single-period drops generally indicate a smoother ride, though they do not guarantee lower future risk.
| Period | Metric | LUMN | UNIT |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | Growthi | +11.30% | +37.35% |
| CAGRi | +11.31% | +37.38% | |
| Volatilityi | 77.37% | 48.26% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.46 | 0.81 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.71 | 1.27 | |
| Max drawdowni | 52.07% | 27.29% | |
| Current drawdowni | 45.90% | 25.88% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 30.08% | 9.48% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 33.34% | 12.03% | |
| Max daily dropi | 21.63% | 10.41% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 30.24% | 15.70% | |
| 5Y | Growthi | -49.73% | -40.72% |
| CAGRi | -12.86% | -9.94% | |
| Volatilityi | 85.95% | 54.21% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.18 | -0.00 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.30 | -0.01 | |
| Max drawdowni | 93.13% | 76.84% | |
| Current drawdowni | 55.15% | 47.62% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 57.44% | 47.54% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 63.07% | 51.20% | |
| Max daily dropi | 32.88% | 26.37% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 30.24% | 36.98% | |
| 10Y | Growthi | -76.33% | -62.28% |
| CAGRi | -13.43% | -9.29% | |
| Volatilityi | 68.18% | 53.50% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.04 | 0.01 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.06 | 0.01 | |
| Max drawdowni | 96.84% | 83.89% | |
| Current drawdowni | 79.35% | 63.55% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 64.11% | 52.73% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 67.84% | 56.27% | |
| Max daily dropi | 32.88% | 37.39% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 30.24% | 52.59% |
| Category | LUMN | UNIT |
|---|---|---|
| Company | Lumen Technologies, Inc. | Uniti Group Inc. |
| Sector | Communication Services | Real Estate |
| Industry | Telecom Services | REIT - Specialty |
| Core business | Lumen Technologies is a global digital infrastructure company providing enterprise fiber-based networking, cloud connectivity, security, and professional services to large businesses, governments, and public sector entities — restructuring after significant debt challenges from the combination of CenturyLink and Level 3 Communications. | Uniti Group is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that acquires and constructs mission-critical fiber and telecom infrastructure and leases it to telecom carriers, ISPs, and enterprises — providing passive infrastructure exposure to fiber deployment through long-term net leases. |
| Investor focus | Investors track Lumen's enterprise revenue trends (enterprise business is the strategic future), consumer ILEC (rural wireline) trajectory, free cash flow generation, and debt management as the company works through its significant leverage from the CenturyLink-Level 3 merger. | Investors track Uniti's leased fiber revenue, Windstream lease contribution (the primary tenant), AFFO (adjusted funds from operations) per share, new fiber deployment progress (Uniti Fiber), and the Windstream relationship as the company's largest single customer. |
- Level 3 network — Lumen's backbone includes the former Level 3 fiber network with a large long-haul fiber capacity asset serving enterprise and carrier customers globally
- Enterprise connectivity demand from cloud migration, SD-WAN, and cybersecurity creates recurring demand for fiber-based enterprise services in Lumen's segment
- Federal government and public sector customer relationships provide large, long-term revenue contracts
- REIT structure provides tax-efficient pass-through income distributions to shareholders — telecom infrastructure REIT model converts fiber assets into yield-generating investment vehicles
- Long-term net leases with telecom customers provide highly visible, contracted cash flows from fiber infrastructure with inflation escalators
- Uniti Fiber builds fiber in underserved markets and leases to ISPs and enterprises — a growing revenue stream beyond the Windstream master lease
- Lumen has significant debt challenges — the company has had to work through debt restructuring after taking on substantial leverage from the CenturyLink-Level 3 merger
- Consumer wireline business (legacy copper ILEC territory) is in structural decline as consumers move to cable broadband and wireless
- Enterprise revenue has been under pressure as legacy products decline faster than new products ramp — Lumen must grow new digital services faster than legacy service revenue erosion
- Concentration risk — Uniti's primary tenant is Windstream (a rural CLEC telecom company), and Windstream's financial health is critical to Uniti's cash flow stability
- Telecom infrastructure REIT sector is less widely understood than traditional real estate REITs, potentially limiting the investor base and valuation multiples
- Fiber deployment economics require capital investment before long-term lease revenue materializes — AFFO can be depressed by the capital-intensive nature of fiber builds
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