Ameren (AEE) Competitors

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) and FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) are both large-cap utilities companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, community ranking, institutional ownership, risk, earnings, media sentiment, dividends and valuation.

Do analysts rate AEE or FE?

Ameren presently has a consensus price target of $87.80, suggesting a potential downside of 4.81%. FirstEnergy has a consensus price target of $46.00, suggesting a potential upside of 10.23%. Given FirstEnergy's higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe FirstEnergy is more favorable than Ameren.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ameren	1 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.54
FirstEnergy	1 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.25

Which has more risk & volatility, AEE or FE?

Ameren has a beta of 0.45, indicating that its stock price is 55% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, FirstEnergy has a beta of 0.51, indicating that its stock price is 49% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has better earnings & valuation, AEE or FE?

Ameren has higher earnings, but lower revenue than FirstEnergy. Ameren is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than FirstEnergy, 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
Ameren	$7.50B	3.28	$1.15B	$4.25	21.70
FirstEnergy	$12.87B	1.87	$1.10B	$1.55	26.92

Is AEE or FE a better dividend stock?

Ameren pays an annual dividend of $2.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. FirstEnergy pays an annual dividend of $1.70 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. Ameren pays out 63.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. FirstEnergy pays out 109.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Ameren has raised its dividend for 11 consecutive years.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in AEE or FE?

FirstEnergy received 244 more outperform votes than Ameren when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 56.13% of users gave FirstEnergy an outperform vote while only 51.52% of users gave Ameren an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Ameren	Outperform Votes 356 51.52%	Underperform Votes 335 48.48%
FirstEnergy	Outperform Votes 600 56.13%	Underperform Votes 469 43.87%

Is AEE or FE more profitable?

Ameren has a net margin of 15.52% compared to FirstEnergy's net margin of 6.64%. FirstEnergy's return on equity of 11.38% beat Ameren's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ameren	15.52%	10.09%	2.81%
FirstEnergy	6.64%	11.38%	2.93%

Do insiders & institutionals hold more shares of AEE or FE?

79.1% of Ameren shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.4% of FirstEnergy shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.4% of Ameren shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of FirstEnergy shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media favor AEE or FE?

In the previous week, FirstEnergy had 11 more articles in the media than Ameren. MarketBeat recorded 20 mentions for FirstEnergy and 9 mentions for Ameren. Ameren's average media sentiment score of 0.88 beat FirstEnergy's score of 0.67 indicating that Ameren is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Ameren	6 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
FirstEnergy	10 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Ameren and FirstEnergy tied by winning 11 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.