Southwest Gas (SWX) Competitors

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

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 3.4%. UGI pays an annual dividend of $1.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.0%. 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 increased its dividend for 37 consecutive years. UGI is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, 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	$5.43B	0.95	$150.89M	$2.48	29.15
UGI	$7.21B	0.90	$269M	$1.24	24.28

Do analysts prefer SWX or UGI?

Southwest Gas presently has a consensus price target of $73.40, indicating a potential upside of 1.53%. UGI has a consensus price target of $28.33, indicating a potential downside of 5.88%. 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)	4 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.80
UGI	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67

Does the media prefer SWX or UGI?

In the previous week, Southwest Gas had 1 more articles in the media than UGI. MarketBeat recorded 6 mentions for Southwest Gas and 5 mentions for UGI. Southwest Gas' average media sentiment score of 1.05 beat UGI's score of 0.51 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	3 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
UGI	4 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more volatility & risk, SWX or UGI?

Southwest Gas has a beta of 0.43, suggesting that its stock price is 57% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, UGI has a beta of 1.21, suggesting that its stock price is 21% more volatile than the S&P 500.

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

92.8% of Southwest Gas shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 82.3% of UGI shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.4% of Southwest Gas shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of UGI shares are owned 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.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in 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 51.02% of users gave Southwest Gas an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Southwest Gas	Outperform Votes 276 51.02%	Underperform Votes 265 48.98%
UGI	Outperform Votes 224 53.72%	Underperform Votes 193 46.28%

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%

Summary

UGI beats Southwest Gas on 12 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.