AVA vs. MDU, BKH, PCG, SRE, D, PEG, ED, WEC, DTE, and AEE
Should you be buying Avista stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Avista include MDU Resources Group (MDU), Black Hills (BKH), PG&E (PCG), Sempra (SRE), Dominion Energy (D), Public Service Enterprise Group (PEG), Consolidated Edison (ED), WEC Energy Group (WEC), DTE Energy (DTE), and Ameren (AEE). These companies are all part of the "multi-utilities" industry.
Avista (NYSE:AVA) and MDU Resources Group (NYSE:MDU) are both mid-cap utilities companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, media sentiment, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, community ranking and valuation.
MDU Resources Group has a net margin of 10.74% compared to Avista's net margin of 9.96%. MDU Resources Group's return on equity of 11.42% beat Avista's return on equity.
MDU Resources Group has higher revenue and earnings than Avista. MDU Resources Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Avista, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Avista pays an annual dividend of $1.90 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.1%. MDU Resources Group pays an annual dividend of $0.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Avista pays out 78.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. MDU Resources Group pays out 21.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.
MDU Resources Group received 36 more outperform votes than Avista when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 61.87% of users gave MDU Resources Group an outperform vote while only 47.76% of users gave Avista an outperform vote.
In the previous week, Avista had 3 more articles in the media than MDU Resources Group. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for Avista and 4 mentions for MDU Resources Group. MDU Resources Group's average media sentiment score of 1.28 beat Avista's score of 0.85 indicating that MDU Resources Group is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
Avista has a beta of 0.48, suggesting that its share price is 52% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, MDU Resources Group has a beta of 0.78, suggesting that its share price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500.
85.2% of Avista shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 71.4% of MDU Resources Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of Avista shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of MDU Resources Group shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Avista presently has a consensus price target of $35.00, suggesting a potential downside of 5.35%. MDU Resources Group has a consensus price target of $30.00, suggesting a potential upside of 18.86%. Given MDU Resources Group's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe MDU Resources Group is more favorable than Avista.
Summary
MDU Resources Group beats Avista on 14 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding AVA 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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