NI vs. CMS, AEE, WEC, ED, PEG, EVRG, LNT, ALE, XEL, and EXC
Should you be buying NiSource stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of NiSource include CMS Energy (CMS), Ameren (AEE), WEC Energy Group (WEC), Consolidated Edison (ED), Public Service Enterprise Group (PEG), Evergy (EVRG), Alliant Energy (LNT), ALLETE (ALE), Xcel Energy (XEL), and Exelon (EXC). These companies are all part of the "electric & other services combined" industry.
CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) and NiSource (NYSE:NI) are both large-cap utilities companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their community ranking, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, media sentiment and profitability.
NiSource has a net margin of 14.23% compared to NiSource's net margin of 13.19%. NiSource's return on equity of 12.83% beat CMS Energy's return on equity.
In the previous week, CMS Energy and CMS Energy both had 14 articles in the media. NiSource's average media sentiment score of 1.13 beat CMS Energy's score of 0.81 indicating that CMS Energy is being referred to more favorably in the media.
CMS Energy has a beta of 0.37, indicating that its share price is 63% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NiSource has a beta of 0.49, indicating that its share price is 51% less volatile than the S&P 500.
CMS Energy received 130 more outperform votes than NiSource when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 62.61% of users gave CMS Energy an outperform vote while only 54.10% of users gave NiSource an outperform vote.
CMS Energy currently has a consensus target price of $63.75, suggesting a potential upside of 0.81%. NiSource has a consensus target price of $29.71, suggesting a potential upside of 1.66%. Given CMS Energy's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe NiSource is more favorable than CMS Energy.
93.6% of CMS Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.6% of NiSource shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.4% of CMS Energy shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of NiSource shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
CMS Energy pays an annual dividend of $2.06 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. NiSource pays an annual dividend of $1.06 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. CMS Energy pays out 62.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. NiSource pays out 69.3% 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. CMS Energy has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years and NiSource has increased its dividend for 13 consecutive years. NiSource is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
CMS Energy has higher revenue and earnings than NiSource. NiSource is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than CMS Energy, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
CMS Energy beats NiSource 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 NI 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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