Centrica (CNA) Competitors

Prudential (LON:PRU) and Centrica (LON:CNA) are both financial services companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, media sentiment, profitability, community ranking and analyst recommendations.

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of PRU or CNA?

62.0% of Prudential shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 54.2% of Centrica shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Prudential shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Centrica shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Which has better earnings & valuation, PRU or CNA?

Centrica has higher revenue and earnings than Prudential. Centrica is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Prudential, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Prudential	£10.35B	2.62	£827.01M	£20.02	41.20
Centrica	£19.40B	0.38	£1.05B	£20.98	7.02

Do analysts rate PRU or CNA?

Prudential currently has a consensus target price of GBX 1,188, indicating a potential upside of 44.03%. Centrica has a consensus target price of GBX 167, indicating a potential upside of 13.45%. Given Prudential's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Prudential is more favorable than Centrica.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Prudential	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Centrica	1 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.86

Is PRU or CNA more profitable?

Prudential has a net margin of 7.99% compared to Centrica's net margin of 5.39%. Centrica's return on equity of 25.16% beat Prudential's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Prudential	7.99%	4.50%	1.23%
Centrica	5.39%	25.16%	-33.70%

Does the media favor PRU or CNA?

In the previous week, Prudential had 20 more articles in the media than Centrica. MarketBeat recorded 23 mentions for Prudential and 3 mentions for Centrica. Prudential's average media sentiment score of 0.39 beat Centrica's score of 0.21 indicating that Prudential is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Prudential	6 Very Positive mention(s)	7 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Centrica	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in PRU or CNA?

Prudential received 146 more outperform votes than Centrica when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 74.72% of users gave Prudential an outperform vote while only 58.07% of users gave Centrica an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Prudential	Outperform Votes 1135 74.72%	Underperform Votes 384 25.28%
Centrica	Outperform Votes 989 58.07%	Underperform Votes 714 41.93%

Is PRU or CNA a better dividend stock?

Prudential pays an annual dividend of GBX 17 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. Centrica pays an annual dividend of GBX 4 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Prudential pays out 84.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Centrica pays out 19.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Centrica is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Which has more risk and volatility, PRU or CNA?

Prudential has a beta of 1.2, meaning that its share price is 20% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Centrica has a beta of 1.08, meaning that its share price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Prudential beats Centrica on 13 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.