ATO vs. NFG, NRG, CMS, EBR, CNP, AEE, FTS, AES, VIV, and ES
Should you be buying Atmos Energy stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Atmos Energy include National Fuel Gas (NFG), NRG Energy (NRG), CMS Energy (CMS), Centrais Elétricas Brasileiras S.A. - Eletrobrás (EBR), CenterPoint Energy (CNP), Ameren (AEE), Fortis (FTS), AES (AES), Telefônica Brasil (VIV), and Eversource Energy (ES). These companies are all part of the "utilities" sector.
National Fuel Gas (NYSE:NFG) and Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) are both utilities companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, community ranking, media sentiment, risk and dividends.
Atmos Energy received 23 more outperform votes than National Fuel Gas when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 65.83% of users gave National Fuel Gas an outperform vote while only 64.38% of users gave Atmos Energy an outperform vote.
National Fuel Gas pays an annual dividend of $1.98 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Atmos Energy pays an annual dividend of $3.22 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. National Fuel Gas pays out 39.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Atmos Energy pays out 48.3% 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. National Fuel Gas has increased its dividend for 54 consecutive years and Atmos Energy has increased its dividend for 40 consecutive years. National Fuel Gas is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
Atmos Energy has a net margin of 24.65% compared to Atmos Energy's net margin of 23.84%. Atmos Energy's return on equity of 15.06% beat National Fuel Gas' return on equity.
National Fuel Gas has a beta of 0.63, indicating that its stock price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Atmos Energy has a beta of 0.66, indicating that its stock price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500.
National Fuel Gas currently has a consensus target price of $68.00, suggesting a potential upside of 22.79%. Atmos Energy has a consensus target price of $127.17, suggesting a potential upside of 12.64%. Given Atmos Energy's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe National Fuel Gas is more favorable than Atmos Energy.
In the previous week, National Fuel Gas and National Fuel Gas both had 5 articles in the media. Atmos Energy's average media sentiment score of 1.60 beat National Fuel Gas' score of 1.30 indicating that National Fuel Gas is being referred to more favorably in the media.
74.0% of National Fuel Gas shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.2% of Atmos Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.6% of National Fuel Gas shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Atmos Energy shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Atmos Energy has higher revenue and earnings than National Fuel Gas. National Fuel Gas is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Atmos Energy, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
National Fuel Gas and Atmos Energy 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 ATO 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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