Avista (AVA) Competitors

Avista (NYSE:AVA) and Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) are both utilities companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, institutional ownership, dividends and valuation.

Do analysts recommend AVA or LNT?

Avista currently has a consensus price target of $38.00, suggesting a potential upside of 3.51%. Alliant Energy has a consensus price target of $64.23, suggesting a potential downside of 2.35%. Given Avista's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Avista is more favorable than Alliant Energy.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Avista	1 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.50
Alliant Energy	1 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.36

Which has more volatility & risk, AVA or LNT?

Avista has a beta of 0.4, suggesting that its share price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Alliant Energy has a beta of 0.53, suggesting that its share price is 47% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, AVA or LNT?

Alliant Energy has higher revenue and earnings than Avista. Avista is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Alliant 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
Avista	$1.94B	1.53	$180M	$2.34	15.69
Alliant Energy	$3.98B	4.24	$690M	$2.90	22.68

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of AVA or LNT?

85.2% of Avista shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.9% of Alliant Energy shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of Avista shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Alliant Energy shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media favor AVA or LNT?

In the previous week, Avista had 11 more articles in the media than Alliant Energy. MarketBeat recorded 21 mentions for Avista and 10 mentions for Alliant Energy. Alliant Energy's average media sentiment score of 1.53 beat Avista's score of 0.53 indicating that Alliant Energy is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Avista	3 Very Positive mention(s)	4 Positive mention(s)	12 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Alliant Energy	10 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Is AVA or LNT more profitable?

Alliant Energy has a net margin of 18.26% compared to Avista's net margin of 9.63%. Alliant Energy's return on equity of 12.01% beat Avista's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Avista	9.63%	7.28%	2.39%
Alliant Energy	18.26%	12.01%	3.71%

Is AVA or LNT a better dividend stock?

Avista pays an annual dividend of $1.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.3%. Alliant Energy pays an annual dividend of $2.03 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Avista pays out 83.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Alliant Energy pays out 70.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Avista has raised its dividend for 23 consecutive years and Alliant Energy has raised its dividend for 22 consecutive years. Avista is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

Alliant Energy beats Avista on 13 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.