Southwest Gas (SWX) Competitors

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

Which has better valuation & earnings, SWX or UGI?

UGI has higher revenue and earnings than Southwest Gas. UGI is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Southwest Gas, 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
Southwest Gas	$5.21B	0.96	$150.89M	$2.48	28.08
UGI	$7.21B	0.81	$269M	$1.24	21.99

Do analysts rate SWX or UGI?

Southwest Gas presently has a consensus price target of $73.50, suggesting a potential upside of 5.53%. UGI has a consensus price target of $28.33, suggesting a potential upside of 3.90%. Given Southwest Gas' higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Southwest Gas is more favorable than UGI.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Southwest Gas	1 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.75
UGI	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67

Do insiders & institutionals hold more shares of SWX or UGI?

92.8% of Southwest Gas shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 82.3% of UGI shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of Southwest Gas shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of UGI shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media favor SWX or UGI?

In the previous week, UGI had 8 more articles in the media than Southwest Gas. MarketBeat recorded 13 mentions for UGI and 5 mentions for Southwest Gas. Southwest Gas' average media sentiment score of 1.15 beat UGI's score of 0.40 indicating that Southwest Gas is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Southwest Gas	5 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
UGI	5 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Which has more risk and volatility, SWX or UGI?

Southwest Gas has a beta of 0.41, indicating that its share price is 59% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, UGI has a beta of 1.21, indicating that its share price is 21% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is SWX or UGI more profitable?

UGI has a net margin of 3.73% compared to Southwest Gas' net margin of 3.44%. UGI's return on equity of 14.64% beat Southwest Gas' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Southwest Gas	3.44%	5.99%	1.76%
UGI	3.73%	14.64%	4.28%

Is SWX or UGI a better dividend stock?

Southwest Gas pays an annual dividend of $2.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. UGI pays an annual dividend of $1.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.5%. Southwest Gas pays out 100.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. UGI pays out 121.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. UGI has raised its dividend for 36 consecutive years. UGI is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer SWX or UGI?

Southwest Gas received 52 more outperform votes than UGI when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 53.72% of users gave UGI an outperform vote while only 51.11% of users gave Southwest Gas an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Southwest Gas	Outperform Votes 276 51.11%	Underperform Votes 264 48.89%
UGI	Outperform Votes 224 53.72%	Underperform Votes 193 46.28%

Summary

UGI beats Southwest Gas on 13 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.