CU vs. ACO.X, BIP.UN, BIPC, AQN, NPI, BEPC, CPX, BLX, TA, and BEP.UN
Should you be buying Canadian Utilities stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Canadian Utilities include ATCO (ACO.X), Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (BIP.UN), Brookfield Infrastructure (BIPC), Algonquin Power & Utilities (AQN), Northland Power (NPI), Brookfield Renewable (BEPC), Capital Power (CPX), Boralex (BLX), TransAlta (TA), and Brookfield Renewable Partners (BEP.UN). These companies are all part of the "utilities" sector.
ATCO (TSE:ACO.X) and Canadian Utilities (TSE:CU) are both mid-cap utilities companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, community ranking, dividends, valuation, earnings, media sentiment, institutional ownership and profitability.
In the previous week, Canadian Utilities had 2 more articles in the media than ATCO. MarketBeat recorded 5 mentions for Canadian Utilities and 3 mentions for ATCO. Canadian Utilities' average media sentiment score of 0.61 beat ATCO's score of 0.05 indicating that ATCO is being referred to more favorably in the media.
28.7% of ATCO shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 15.1% of Canadian Utilities shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of ATCO shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 38.0% of Canadian Utilities shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
ATCO has a beta of 0.67, indicating that its stock price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Canadian Utilities has a beta of 0.6, indicating that its stock price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Canadian Utilities has a net margin of 18.63% compared to Canadian Utilities' net margin of 8.75%. ATCO's return on equity of 10.08% beat Canadian Utilities' return on equity.
ATCO pays an annual dividend of C$1.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.8%. Canadian Utilities pays an annual dividend of C$1.81 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.7%. ATCO pays out 53.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Canadian Utilities pays out 77.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.
Canadian Utilities has lower revenue, but higher earnings than ATCO. ATCO is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Canadian Utilities, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
ATCO currently has a consensus price target of C$45.92, indicating a potential upside of 12.93%. Canadian Utilities has a consensus price target of C$35.43, indicating a potential upside of 11.27%. Given Canadian Utilities' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe ATCO is more favorable than Canadian Utilities.
Canadian Utilities received 218 more outperform votes than ATCO when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 59.72% of users gave Canadian Utilities an outperform vote while only 46.39% of users gave ATCO an outperform vote.
Summary
ATCO and Canadian Utilities tied by winning 10 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding CU and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Skip ChartThis chart shows the average media sentiment of TSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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