AVA vs. MDU, BKH, PCG, SRE, D, PEG, ED, WEC, DTE, and CNP
Should you be buying Avista stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Avista include MDU Resources Group (MDU), Black Hills (BKH), PG&E (PCG), Sempra (SRE), Dominion Energy (D), Public Service Enterprise Group (PEG), Consolidated Edison (ED), WEC Energy Group (WEC), DTE Energy (DTE), and CenterPoint Energy (CNP). These companies are all part of the "multi-utilities" industry.
MDU Resources Group (NYSE:MDU) and Avista (NYSE:AVA) are both mid-cap utilities companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, media sentiment, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, community ranking and dividends.
71.4% of MDU Resources Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 85.2% of Avista shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of MDU Resources Group shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Avista shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
MDU Resources Group has higher revenue and earnings than Avista. MDU Resources Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Avista, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
In the previous week, Avista had 2 more articles in the media than MDU Resources Group. MarketBeat recorded 6 mentions for Avista and 4 mentions for MDU Resources Group. Avista's average media sentiment score of 1.75 beat MDU Resources Group's score of 0.98 indicating that MDU Resources Group is being referred to more favorably in the media.
MDU Resources Group received 36 more outperform votes than Avista when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 61.87% of users gave MDU Resources Group an outperform vote while only 47.76% of users gave Avista an outperform vote.
MDU Resources Group has a net margin of 10.74% compared to MDU Resources Group's net margin of 9.96%. Avista's return on equity of 11.42% beat MDU Resources Group's return on equity.
MDU Resources Group currently has a consensus target price of $30.00, indicating a potential upside of 22.60%. Avista has a consensus target price of $35.00, indicating a potential downside of 0.11%. Given Avista's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe MDU Resources Group is more favorable than Avista.
MDU Resources Group pays an annual dividend of $0.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Avista pays an annual dividend of $1.90 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.4%. MDU Resources Group pays out 21.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Avista pays out 78.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Avista has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Avista is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
MDU Resources Group has a beta of 0.77, meaning that its stock price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Avista has a beta of 0.49, meaning that its stock price is 51% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
MDU Resources Group beats Avista on 14 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding AVA and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE 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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