AES (AES) Competitors

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) and AES (NYSE:AES) are both utilities companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership, media sentiment, valuation, dividends and profitability.

Which has higher valuation and earnings, NRG or AES?

AES has lower revenue, but higher earnings than NRG Energy. AES is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than NRG Energy, 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
NRG Energy	$28.13B	1.01	$1.13B	$6.20	23.39
AES	$12.12B	0.77	$1.68B	$1.84	7.08

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in NRG or AES?

97.7% of NRG Energy shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.1% of AES shares are held by institutional investors. 0.6% of NRG Energy shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of AES shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts recommend NRG or AES?

NRG Energy presently has a consensus price target of $151.80, suggesting a potential upside of 4.67%. AES has a consensus price target of $24.22, suggesting a potential upside of 85.97%. Given AES's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe AES is more favorable than NRG Energy.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
NRG Energy	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.90
AES	2 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67

Is NRG or AES more profitable?

AES has a net margin of 10.67% compared to NRG Energy's net margin of 4.66%. NRG Energy's return on equity of 73.78% beat AES's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
NRG Energy	4.66%	73.78%	6.59%
AES	10.67%	18.06%	2.80%

Is NRG or AES a better dividend stock?

NRG Energy pays an annual dividend of $1.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. AES pays an annual dividend of $0.70 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.4%. NRG Energy pays out 28.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. AES pays out 38.0% 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. NRG Energy has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years and AES has increased its dividend for 12 consecutive years. AES is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Does the media favor NRG or AES?

In the previous week, AES had 34 more articles in the media than NRG Energy. MarketBeat recorded 56 mentions for AES and 22 mentions for NRG Energy. NRG Energy's average media sentiment score of 1.36 beat AES's score of 0.53 indicating that NRG Energy is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
NRG Energy	15 Very Positive mention(s)	5 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
AES	20 Very Positive mention(s)	7 Positive mention(s)	13 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	2 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more risk and volatility, NRG or AES?

NRG Energy has a beta of 1.13, indicating that its share price is 13% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AES has a beta of 0.95, indicating that its share price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

NRG Energy beats AES on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.