Unitil (UTL) Competitors

Avista (NYSE:AVA) and Unitil (NYSE:UTL) are both utilities companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, media sentiment, earnings, analyst recommendations, profitability and risk.

Do analysts recommend AVA or UTL?

Avista presently has a consensus price target of $38.00, indicating a potential upside of 2.77%. Unitil has a consensus price target of $55.00, indicating a potential upside of 6.68%. Given Unitil's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Unitil is more favorable than Avista.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Avista	1 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.50
Unitil	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Is AVA or UTL more profitable?

Unitil has a net margin of 9.74% compared to Avista's net margin of 9.63%. Unitil's return on equity of 9.49% beat Avista's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Avista	9.63%	7.28%	2.39%
Unitil	9.74%	9.49%	2.74%

Do institutionals & insiders believe in AVA or UTL?

85.2% of Avista shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 76.8% of Unitil shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of Avista shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.0% of Unitil shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, AVA or UTL?

Avista has higher revenue and earnings than Unitil. Avista is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Unitil, 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
Avista	$1.94B	1.54	$180M	$2.34	15.80
Unitil	$494.80M	1.69	$47.10M	$2.93	17.60

Does the media refer more to AVA or UTL?

In the previous week, Avista had 2 more articles in the media than Unitil. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for Avista and 5 mentions for Unitil. Avista's average media sentiment score of 1.64 beat Unitil's score of 0.42 indicating that Avista is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Avista	7 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
Unitil	2 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 & volatility, AVA or UTL?

Avista has a beta of 0.4, suggesting that its share price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Unitil has a beta of 0.63, suggesting that its share price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is AVA or UTL a better dividend stock?

Avista pays an annual dividend of $1.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.3%. Unitil pays an annual dividend of $1.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. Avista pays out 83.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Unitil pays out 61.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Avista has raised its dividend for 23 consecutive years and Unitil has raised its dividend for 12 consecutive years. Avista is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

Unitil beats Avista on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.