AES (AES) Competitors

Pinnacle West Capital (NYSE:PNW) and AES (NYSE:AES) are both utilities companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, community ranking, earnings, media sentiment, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability, risk and analyst recommendations.

Is PNW or AES more profitable?

Pinnacle West Capital has a net margin of 12.26% compared to AES's net margin of 8.34%. AES's return on equity of 27.30% beat Pinnacle West Capital's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Pinnacle West Capital	12.26%	9.60%	2.43%
AES	8.34%	27.30%	3.76%

Does the media refer more to PNW or AES?

In the previous week, AES had 3 more articles in the media than Pinnacle West Capital. MarketBeat recorded 17 mentions for AES and 14 mentions for Pinnacle West Capital. Pinnacle West Capital's average media sentiment score of 0.54 beat AES's score of 0.43 indicating that Pinnacle West Capital is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Pinnacle West Capital	6 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
AES	6 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	9 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Do analysts rate PNW or AES?

Pinnacle West Capital currently has a consensus price target of $82.04, suggesting a potential downside of 10.62%. AES has a consensus price target of $22.38, suggesting a potential upside of 68.49%. Given AES's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe AES is more favorable than Pinnacle West Capital.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Pinnacle West Capital	0 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.42
AES	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.90

Which has higher earnings & valuation, PNW or AES?

Pinnacle West Capital has higher earnings, but lower revenue than AES. AES is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Pinnacle West Capital, 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
Pinnacle West Capital	$5.02B	2.08	$501.56M	$5.28	17.38
AES	$12.67B	0.75	$249M	$1.44	9.22

Is PNW or AES a better dividend stock?

Pinnacle West Capital pays an annual dividend of $3.58 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. AES pays an annual dividend of $0.69 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.2%. Pinnacle West Capital pays out 67.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. AES pays out 47.9% 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. Pinnacle West Capital has raised its dividend for 13 consecutive years and AES has raised its dividend for 11 consecutive years. AES is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer PNW or AES?

AES received 3 more outperform votes than Pinnacle West Capital when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 61.97% of users gave AES an outperform vote while only 41.72% of users gave Pinnacle West Capital an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Pinnacle West Capital	Outperform Votes 388 41.72%	Underperform Votes 542 58.28%
AES	Outperform Votes 391 61.97%	Underperform Votes 240 38.03%

Do insiders & institutionals hold more shares of PNW or AES?

91.5% of Pinnacle West Capital shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.1% of AES shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of Pinnacle West Capital shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of AES shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more risk and volatility, PNW or AES?

Pinnacle West Capital has a beta of 0.52, suggesting that its stock price is 48% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AES has a beta of 1.1, suggesting that its stock price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

AES beats Pinnacle West Capital on 15 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.