VST vs. SO, CEG, AEP, D, EIX, DTE, ETR, FE, PPL, and ES
Should you be buying Vistra stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Vistra include Southern (SO), Constellation Energy (CEG), American Electric Power (AEP), Dominion Energy (D), Edison International (EIX), DTE Energy (DTE), Entergy (ETR), FirstEnergy (FE), PPL (PPL), and Eversource Energy (ES). These companies are all part of the "electric services" industry.
Southern (NYSE:SO) and Vistra (NYSE:VST) are both large-cap utilities companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, risk, valuation, institutional ownership, media sentiment, dividends, analyst recommendations and community ranking.
Southern has higher revenue and earnings than Vistra. Southern is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Vistra, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
In the previous week, Southern had 14 more articles in the media than Vistra. MarketBeat recorded 21 mentions for Southern and 7 mentions for Vistra. Southern's average media sentiment score of 1.36 beat Vistra's score of 0.67 indicating that Vistra is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
Southern pays an annual dividend of $2.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. Vistra pays an annual dividend of $0.86 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Southern pays out 74.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Vistra pays out 52.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Southern has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years and Vistra has increased its dividend for 5 consecutive years.
Southern received 238 more outperform votes than Vistra when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 66.51% of users gave Vistra an outperform vote while only 49.95% of users gave Southern an outperform vote.
Southern currently has a consensus price target of $76.36, suggesting a potential downside of 2.03%. Vistra has a consensus price target of $87.83, suggesting a potential upside of 3.25%. Given Southern's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Vistra is more favorable than Southern.
64.1% of Southern shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.9% of Vistra shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of Southern shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.4% of Vistra shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Southern has a net margin of 16.74% compared to Southern's net margin of 5.66%. Southern's return on equity of 24.72% beat Vistra's return on equity.
Southern has a beta of 0.51, indicating that its stock price is 49% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Vistra has a beta of 1.03, indicating that its stock price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
Vistra beats Southern on 11 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.
Get Vistra News Delivered to You Automatically
Sign up to receive the latest news and ratings for VST and its competitors with MarketBeat's FREE daily newsletter.
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding VST 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.
Related Companies and Tools
