PG&E (PCG) Competitors

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) and Sempra (NYSE:SRE) are both large-cap utilities companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their community ranking, valuation, profitability, institutional ownership, media sentiment, earnings, dividends, risk and analyst recommendations.

Is PCG or SRE more profitable?

Sempra has a net margin of 22.63% compared to PG&E's net margin of 11.11%. PG&E's return on equity of 12.51% beat Sempra's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
PG&E	11.11%	12.51%	2.54%
Sempra	22.63%	8.06%	3.04%

Does the MarketBeat Community favor PCG or SRE?

PG&E received 390 more outperform votes than Sempra when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 63.37% of users gave PG&E an outperform vote while only 60.40% of users gave Sempra an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
PG&E	Outperform Votes 872 63.37%	Underperform Votes 504 36.63%
Sempra	Outperform Votes 482 60.40%	Underperform Votes 316 39.60%

Is PCG or SRE a better dividend stock?

PG&E pays an annual dividend of $0.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.2%. Sempra pays an annual dividend of $2.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. PG&E pays out 3.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Sempra pays out 54.6% 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. Sempra has increased its dividend for 21 consecutive years. Sempra is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do analysts rate PCG or SRE?

PG&E currently has a consensus target price of $22.80, suggesting a potential upside of 8.06%. Sempra has a consensus target price of $89.00, suggesting a potential downside of 4.42%. Given PG&E's higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe PG&E is more favorable than Sempra.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
PG&E	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.90
Sempra	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	10 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.91

Does the media prefer PCG or SRE?

In the previous week, Sempra had 2 more articles in the media than PG&E. MarketBeat recorded 20 mentions for Sempra and 18 mentions for PG&E. Sempra's average media sentiment score of 1.17 beat PG&E's score of 0.77 indicating that Sempra is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
PG&E	14 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Sempra	15 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, PCG or SRE?

Sempra has lower revenue, but higher earnings than PG&E. PG&E is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Sempra, 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
PG&E	$24.83B	2.22	$2.26B	$1.28	16.48
Sempra	$16.72B	3.53	$3.08B	$4.54	20.51

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in PCG or SRE?

78.6% of PG&E shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.7% of Sempra shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of PG&E shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Sempra shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Which has more volatility & risk, PCG or SRE?

PG&E has a beta of 1.03, meaning that its stock price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sempra has a beta of 0.75, meaning that its stock price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Sempra beats PG&E on 14 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.