Avista (AVA) Competitors

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

Is LNT or AVA a better dividend stock?

Alliant Energy pays an annual dividend of $2.03 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Avista pays an annual dividend of $1.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.2%. Alliant Energy pays out 70.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. 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 has increased its dividend for 22 consecutive years and Avista has increased its dividend for 23 consecutive years. Avista is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Is LNT or AVA 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
Alliant Energy	18.26%	12.01%	3.71%
Avista	9.63%	7.28%	2.39%

Do analysts rate LNT or AVA?

Alliant Energy currently has a consensus price target of $64.23, indicating a potential upside of 1.58%. Avista has a consensus price target of $38.00, indicating a potential upside of 0.91%. Given Alliant Energy's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Alliant Energy is more favorable than Avista.

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

Does the media prefer LNT or AVA?

In the previous week, Alliant Energy had 7 more articles in the media than Avista. MarketBeat recorded 12 mentions for Alliant Energy and 5 mentions for Avista. Avista's average media sentiment score of 1.53 beat Alliant Energy's score of 1.38 indicating that Avista is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Alliant Energy	8 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Avista	5 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Do institutionals & insiders believe in LNT or AVA?

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

Which has more volatility and risk, LNT or AVA?

Alliant Energy has a beta of 0.56, meaning that its share price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Avista has a beta of 0.4, meaning that its share price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has higher earnings & valuation, LNT or AVA?

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
Alliant Energy	$3.98B	4.08	$690M	$2.90	21.80
Avista	$1.95B	1.56	$180M	$2.34	16.09

Summary

Alliant Energy beats Avista on 14 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.