FTS vs. CNP, PPL, ES, EBR, FE, DTE, ETR, NRG, AGR, and EIX
Should you be buying Fortis stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Fortis include CenterPoint Energy (CNP), PPL (PPL), Eversource Energy (ES), Centrais Elétricas Brasileiras S.A. - Eletrobrás (EBR), FirstEnergy (FE), DTE Energy (DTE), Entergy (ETR), NRG Energy (NRG), Avangrid (AGR), and Edison International (EIX). These companies are all part of the "electric services" industry.
CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) and Fortis (NYSE:FTS) are both large-cap utilities companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, community ranking, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, dividends, profitability and media sentiment.
In the previous week, CenterPoint Energy had 2 more articles in the media than Fortis. MarketBeat recorded 6 mentions for CenterPoint Energy and 4 mentions for Fortis. Fortis' average media sentiment score of 0.58 beat CenterPoint Energy's score of 0.35 indicating that CenterPoint Energy is being referred to more favorably in the media.
91.8% of CenterPoint Energy shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 57.8% of Fortis shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of CenterPoint Energy shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
CenterPoint Energy pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Fortis pays an annual dividend of $1.71 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.2%. CenterPoint Energy pays out 56.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Fortis pays out 73.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. CenterPoint Energy has increased its dividend for 3 consecutive years and Fortis has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years. Fortis is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
CenterPoint Energy has a beta of 0.91, meaning that its share price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Fortis has a beta of 0.43, meaning that its share price is 57% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Fortis has a net margin of 13.66% compared to Fortis' net margin of 11.03%. Fortis' return on equity of 10.57% beat CenterPoint Energy's return on equity.
CenterPoint Energy received 170 more outperform votes than Fortis when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 56.20% of users gave CenterPoint Energy an outperform vote while only 53.55% of users gave Fortis an outperform vote.
CenterPoint Energy currently has a consensus target price of $30.18, suggesting a potential upside of 0.34%. Fortis has a consensus target price of $55.13, suggesting a potential upside of 35.21%. Given CenterPoint Energy's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Fortis is more favorable than CenterPoint Energy.
Fortis has higher revenue and earnings than CenterPoint Energy. Fortis is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than CenterPoint Energy, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
CenterPoint Energy beats Fortis on 14 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding FTS 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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