Entergy (ETR) Competitors

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) and Southern (NYSE:SO) are both large-cap utilities companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, risk, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability, community ranking, media sentiment and earnings.

Do analysts prefer ETR or SO?

Entergy presently has a consensus target price of $150.96, indicating a potential upside of 1.23%. Southern has a consensus target price of $89.27, indicating a potential upside of 1.52%. Given Southern's higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Southern is more favorable than Entergy.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Entergy	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.79
Southern	1 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.38

Which has more risk and volatility, ETR or SO?

Entergy has a beta of 0.71, indicating that its share price is 29% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Southern has a beta of 0.52, indicating that its share price is 48% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do institutionals & insiders believe in ETR or SO?

88.1% of Entergy shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 64.1% of Southern shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of Entergy shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Southern shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Is ETR or SO a better dividend stock?

Entergy pays an annual dividend of $4.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Southern pays an annual dividend of $2.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Entergy pays out 58.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Southern pays out 67.0% 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. Southern has raised its dividend for 24 consecutive years. Southern is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Does the media favor ETR or SO?

In the previous week, Southern had 4 more articles in the media than Entergy. MarketBeat recorded 20 mentions for Southern and 16 mentions for Entergy. Southern's average media sentiment score of 1.62 beat Entergy's score of 0.67 indicating that Southern is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Entergy	10 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Southern	19 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Is ETR or SO more profitable?

Southern has a net margin of 17.87% compared to Entergy's net margin of 14.83%. Southern's return on equity of 12.78% beat Entergy's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Entergy	14.83%	9.53%	2.25%
Southern	17.87%	12.78%	3.25%

Does the MarketBeat Community favor ETR or SO?

Southern received 75 more outperform votes than Entergy when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 49.68% of users gave Entergy an outperform vote while only 49.67% of users gave Southern an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Entergy	Outperform Votes 459 49.68%	Underperform Votes 465 50.32%
Southern	Outperform Votes 534 49.67%	Underperform Votes 541 50.33%

Which has higher valuation & earnings, ETR or SO?

Southern has higher revenue and earnings than Entergy. Entergy is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Southern, 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
Entergy	$12.15B	2.63	$2.36B	$8.21	18.16
Southern	$26.43B	3.65	$3.98B	$4.30	20.45

Summary

Southern beats Entergy on 13 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.