Southwest Gas (SWX) Competitors

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

Which has more risk and volatility, SWX or UGI?

Southwest Gas has a beta of 0.37, meaning that its share price is 63% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, UGI has a beta of 1.17, meaning that its share price is 17% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do insiders and institutionals believe in 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 insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of UGI shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

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 4.6%. Southwest Gas pays out 90.2% 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 59.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. 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.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor SWX or UGI?

Southwest Gas received 54 more outperform votes than UGI when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 53.72% of users gave UGI an outperform vote while only 51.10% of users gave Southwest Gas an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Southwest Gas	Outperform Votes 278 51.10%	Underperform Votes 266 48.90%
UGI	Outperform Votes 224 53.72%	Underperform Votes 193 46.28%

Does the media refer more to SWX or UGI?

In the previous week, UGI had 5 more articles in the media than Southwest Gas. MarketBeat recorded 13 mentions for UGI and 8 mentions for Southwest Gas. UGI's average media sentiment score of 1.59 beat Southwest Gas' score of 1.18 indicating that UGI is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Southwest Gas	5 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
UGI	13 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Do analysts prefer SWX or UGI?

Southwest Gas presently has a consensus target price of $74.00, indicating a potential upside of 1.37%. UGI has a consensus target price of $28.33, indicating a potential downside of 13.75%. Given Southwest Gas' higher probable upside, analysts clearly 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)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.20
UGI	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67

Is SWX or UGI more profitable?

UGI has a net margin of 7.73% compared to Southwest Gas' net margin of 3.44%. UGI's return on equity of 15.19% beat Southwest Gas' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Southwest Gas	3.44%	5.99%	1.76%
UGI	7.73%	15.19%	4.54%

Which has stronger earnings & 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	$5.11B	1.03	$150.89M	$2.75	26.55
UGI	$7.12B	0.99	$269M	$2.54	12.93

Summary

UGI beats Southwest Gas on 15 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.