AES (AES) Competitors

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) 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 profitability, community ranking, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations and media sentiment.

Do analysts rate NRG or AES?

NRG Energy currently has a consensus target price of $123.29, suggesting a potential upside of 19.90%. AES has a consensus target price of $17.56, suggesting a potential upside of 36.35%. Given AES's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly 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)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.71
AES	1 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.83

Which has more volatility and risk, NRG or AES?

NRG Energy has a beta of 1.13, meaning that its share price is 13% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AES has a beta of 0.94, meaning that its share price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500.

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 1.7%. AES pays an annual dividend of $0.70 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.4%. NRG Energy pays out 35.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. AES pays out 29.5% 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. AES has raised 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 MarketBeat Community prefer NRG or AES?

NRG Energy received 292 more outperform votes than AES when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 65.84% of users gave NRG Energy an outperform vote while only 61.90% of users gave AES an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
NRG Energy	Outperform Votes 690 65.84%	Underperform Votes 358 34.16%
AES	Outperform Votes 398 61.90%	Underperform Votes 245 38.10%

Does the media refer more to NRG or AES?

In the previous week, AES had 19 more articles in the media than NRG Energy. MarketBeat recorded 38 mentions for AES and 19 mentions for NRG Energy. NRG Energy's average media sentiment score of 1.34 beat AES's score of 0.77 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	14 Very Positive mention(s)	4 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
AES	17 Very Positive mention(s)	7 Positive mention(s)	14 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of 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. 0.9% 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, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Is NRG or AES more profitable?

AES has a net margin of 8.34% compared to NRG Energy's net margin of 3.43%. NRG Energy's return on equity of 48.96% beat AES's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
NRG Energy	3.43%	48.96%	4.73%
AES	8.34%	27.30%	3.76%

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, 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	0.74	-$202M	$4.90	20.99
AES	$12.28B	0.75	$249M	$2.37	5.43

Summary

NRG Energy and AES tied by winning 11 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.