NWN vs. SWX, NFG, UGI, NJR, CPK, OKE, ATO, UGP, NFE, and SR
Should you be buying Northwest Natural stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Northwest Natural include Southwest Gas (SWX), National Fuel Gas (NFG), UGI (UGI), New Jersey Resources (NJR), Chesapeake Utilities (CPK), ONEOK (OKE), Atmos Energy (ATO), Ultrapar Participações (UGP), New Fortress Energy (NFE), and Spire (SR).
Northwest Natural (NYSE:NWN) and Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) are both utilities companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, media sentiment, earnings, community ranking, dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and valuation.
Southwest Gas has higher revenue and earnings than Northwest Natural. Northwest Natural is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Southwest Gas, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Northwest Natural has a beta of 0.54, indicating that its stock price is 46% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Southwest Gas has a beta of 0.36, indicating that its stock price is 64% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Northwest Natural has a net margin of 7.36% compared to Southwest Gas' net margin of 3.56%. Northwest Natural's return on equity of 6.76% beat Southwest Gas' return on equity.
Northwest Natural presently has a consensus price target of $41.40, suggesting a potential upside of 10.64%. Southwest Gas has a consensus price target of $75.00, suggesting a potential downside of 3.34%. Given Northwest Natural's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Northwest Natural is more favorable than Southwest Gas.
Northwest Natural pays an annual dividend of $1.95 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.2%. Southwest Gas pays an annual dividend of $2.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Northwest Natural pays out 85.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Southwest Gas pays out 92.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Northwest Natural is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
Southwest Gas received 3 more outperform votes than Northwest Natural when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 52.50% of users gave Northwest Natural an outperform vote while only 51.49% of users gave Southwest Gas an outperform vote.
In the previous week, Southwest Gas had 2 more articles in the media than Northwest Natural. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for Southwest Gas and 5 mentions for Northwest Natural. Northwest Natural's average media sentiment score of 1.15 beat Southwest Gas' score of 0.40 indicating that Northwest Natural is being referred to more favorably in the media.
75.1% of Northwest Natural shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.8% of Southwest Gas shares are held by institutional investors. 0.8% of Northwest Natural shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of Southwest Gas shares are held by company 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.
Summary
Northwest Natural beats Southwest Gas on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding NWN and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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