Ormat Technologies (ORA) Competitors

AES (NYSE:AES) and Ormat Technologies (NYSE:ORA) are both mid-cap utilities companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, institutional ownership, community ranking, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation and media sentiment.

Is AES or ORA more profitable?

Ormat Technologies has a net margin of 13.33% compared to AES's net margin of 8.34%. AES's return on equity of 27.30% beat Ormat Technologies' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AES	8.34%	27.30%	3.76%
Ormat Technologies	13.33%	5.27%	2.40%

Does the MarketBeat Community favor AES or ORA?

AES received 100 more outperform votes than Ormat Technologies when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 61.80% of users gave AES an outperform vote while only 56.44% of users gave Ormat Technologies an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
AES	Outperform Votes 398 61.80%	Underperform Votes 246 38.20%
Ormat Technologies	Outperform Votes 298 56.44%	Underperform Votes 230 43.56%

Which has higher earnings and valuation, AES or ORA?

AES has higher revenue and earnings than Ormat Technologies. AES is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ormat Technologies, 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
AES	$12.28B	0.60	$249M	$2.37	4.34
Ormat Technologies	$879.65M	4.89	$124.40M	$2.04	34.82

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of AES or ORA?

93.1% of AES shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.5% of Ormat Technologies shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of AES shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Ormat Technologies shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is AES or ORA a better dividend stock?

AES pays an annual dividend of $0.70 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.8%. Ormat Technologies pays an annual dividend of $0.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. AES pays out 29.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ormat Technologies pays out 23.5% 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.

Do analysts rate AES or ORA?

AES presently has a consensus price target of $13.67, indicating a potential upside of 33.01%. Ormat Technologies has a consensus price target of $83.56, indicating a potential upside of 17.64%. Given AES's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe AES is more favorable than Ormat Technologies.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AES	1 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.78
Ormat Technologies	0 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.40

Does the media refer more to AES or ORA?

In the previous week, AES had 21 more articles in the media than Ormat Technologies. MarketBeat recorded 34 mentions for AES and 13 mentions for Ormat Technologies. Ormat Technologies' average media sentiment score of 1.32 beat AES's score of 0.85 indicating that Ormat Technologies is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
AES	15 Very Positive mention(s)	7 Positive mention(s)	10 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Ormat Technologies	8 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more volatility & risk, AES or ORA?

AES has a beta of 0.81, indicating that its share price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ormat Technologies has a beta of 0.52, indicating that its share price is 48% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

AES beats Ormat Technologies on 14 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.