Centrica (CNA) Competitors

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

Is CNA or PRU more profitable?

Prudential has a net margin of 8.01% compared to Centrica's net margin of 5.39%. Centrica's return on equity of 22.49% beat Prudential's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Centrica	5.39%	22.49%	-33.70%
Prudential	8.01%	5.48%	1.23%

Do analysts prefer CNA or PRU?

Centrica presently has a consensus price target of GBX 171.25, suggesting a potential upside of 41.24%. Prudential has a consensus price target of GBX 1,285, suggesting a potential upside of 100.28%. Given Prudential's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Prudential is more favorable than Centrica.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Centrica	1 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67
Prudential	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Does the media favor CNA or PRU?

In the previous week, Prudential had 7 more articles in the media than Centrica. MarketBeat recorded 11 mentions for Prudential and 4 mentions for Centrica. Centrica's average media sentiment score of 1.11 beat Prudential's score of 0.22 indicating that Centrica is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Centrica	1 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Prudential	3 Very Positive mention(s)	4 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Do institutionals and insiders have more ownership in CNA or PRU?

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

Which has more risk and volatility, CNA or PRU?

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

Is CNA or PRU a better dividend stock?

Centrica pays an annual dividend of GBX 4 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Prudential pays an annual dividend of GBX 17 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Centrica pays out 1,818.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Prudential pays out 7,083.3% 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 is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Which has stronger earnings and valuation, CNA or PRU?

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
Centrica	£20.48B	0.31	£1.10B	£0.22	551.14
Prudential	£10.94B	1.58	£877M	£0.24	2,673.33

Does the MarketBeat Community favor CNA or PRU?

Prudential received 146 more outperform votes than Centrica when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 74.69% of users gave Prudential an outperform vote while only 58.02% of users gave Centrica an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Centrica	Outperform Votes 987 58.02%	Underperform Votes 714 41.98%
Prudential	Outperform Votes 1133 74.69%	Underperform Votes 384 25.31%

Summary

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