CNA vs. UU, SVT, DRX, PNN, SSE, OPG, ETP, TEP, YU, and HGEN
Should you be buying Centrica stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Centrica include United Utilities Group (UU), Severn Trent (SVT), Drax Group (DRX), Pennon Group (PNN), SSE (SSE), OPG Power Ventures (OPG), Eneraqua Technologies (ETP), Telecom Plus (TEP), Yü Group (YU), and HydrogenOne Capital Growth (HGEN). These companies are all part of the "utilities" sector.
Centrica (LON:CNA) and United Utilities Group (LON:UU) are both mid-cap utilities companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings, media sentiment, risk, community ranking and dividends.
Centrica has a net margin of 14.85% compared to United Utilities Group's net margin of -1.66%. Centrica's return on equity of 146.56% beat United Utilities Group's return on equity.
In the previous week, United Utilities Group had 2 more articles in the media than Centrica. MarketBeat recorded 12 mentions for United Utilities Group and 10 mentions for Centrica. United Utilities Group's average media sentiment score of 1.16 beat Centrica's score of 0.71 indicating that United Utilities Group is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
Centrica has a beta of 1.1, suggesting that its share price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, United Utilities Group has a beta of 0.39, suggesting that its share price is 61% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Centrica currently has a consensus target price of GBX 156, indicating a potential upside of 7.92%. United Utilities Group has a consensus target price of GBX 1,246.67, indicating a potential upside of 12.52%. Given United Utilities Group's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe United Utilities Group is more favorable than Centrica.
Centrica has higher revenue and earnings than United Utilities Group. United Utilities Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Centrica, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
55.4% of Centrica shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 67.3% of United Utilities Group shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of Centrica shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.0% of United Utilities Group shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Centrica pays an annual dividend of GBX 4 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. United Utilities Group pays an annual dividend of GBX 47 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.2%. Centrica pays out 579.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. United Utilities Group pays out -94,000.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. United Utilities Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
Centrica received 527 more outperform votes than United Utilities Group when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 61.59% of users gave United Utilities Group an outperform vote while only 57.95% of users gave Centrica an outperform vote.
Summary
Centrica beats United Utilities Group on 10 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding CNA 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 LON 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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