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

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 6.6%. NRG Energy pays out 44.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. AES pays out 48.6% 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 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.

Which has stronger earnings and 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	$28.12B	0.76	-$202M	$3.98	26.62
AES	$12.67B	0.59	$249M	$1.44	7.33

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%

Do insiders & institutionals believe in NRG or AES?

97.7% of NRG Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.1% of AES shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of NRG Energy shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of AES shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Do analysts recommend NRG or AES?

NRG Energy presently has a consensus target price of $113.71, indicating a potential upside of 7.32%. AES has a consensus target price of $18.80, indicating a potential upside of 78.11%. Given AES's stronger consensus rating and 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)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.71
AES	1 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.85

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer NRG or AES?

NRG Energy received 291 more outperform votes than AES when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 65.87% of users gave NRG Energy an outperform vote while only 62.17% of users gave AES an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
NRG Energy	Outperform Votes 687 65.87%	Underperform Votes 356 34.13%
AES	Outperform Votes 396 62.17%	Underperform Votes 241 37.83%

Does the media favor NRG or AES?

In the previous week, NRG Energy and NRG Energy both had 20 articles in the media. NRG Energy's average media sentiment score of 1.37 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	17 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
AES	9 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	3 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more volatility and risk, NRG or AES?

NRG Energy has a beta of 1.15, indicating that its stock price is 15% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AES has a beta of 0.99, indicating that its stock price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

NRG Energy beats AES on 13 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.