XEL vs. AEP, LNT, CMS, D, DTE, DUK, FE, NEE, NI, and WEC
Should you be buying Xcel Energy stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Xcel Energy include American Electric Power (AEP), Alliant Energy (LNT), CMS Energy (CMS), Dominion Energy (D), DTE Energy (DTE), Duke Energy (DUK), FirstEnergy (FE), NextEra Energy (NEE), NiSource (NI), and WEC Energy Group (WEC). These companies are all part of the "util - elec pwr" industry.
Xcel Energy vs. Its Competitors
Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) and American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) are both large-cap utilities companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, earnings, media sentiment and analyst recommendations.
Xcel Energy presently has a consensus target price of $76.00, suggesting a potential upside of 3.78%. American Electric Power has a consensus target price of $111.29, suggesting a potential downside of 2.15%. Given Xcel Energy's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Xcel Energy is more favorable than American Electric Power.
In the previous week, American Electric Power had 8 more articles in the media than Xcel Energy. MarketBeat recorded 40 mentions for American Electric Power and 32 mentions for Xcel Energy. Xcel Energy's average media sentiment score of 1.43 beat American Electric Power's score of 1.03 indicating that Xcel Energy is being referred to more favorably in the media.
78.4% of Xcel Energy shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.2% of American Electric Power shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of Xcel Energy shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of American Electric Power 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.
American Electric Power has higher revenue and earnings than Xcel Energy. American Electric Power is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Xcel Energy, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Xcel Energy pays an annual dividend of $2.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. American Electric Power pays an annual dividend of $3.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Xcel Energy pays out 63.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. American Electric Power pays out 54.4% 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. Xcel Energy has raised its dividend for 22 consecutive years and American Electric Power has raised its dividend for 15 consecutive years. American Electric Power is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
Xcel Energy has a beta of 0.34, indicating that its stock price is 66% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, American Electric Power has a beta of 0.4, indicating that its stock price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500.
American Electric Power has a net margin of 17.68% compared to Xcel Energy's net margin of 14.85%. American Electric Power's return on equity of 11.55% beat Xcel Energy's return on equity.
Summary
American Electric Power beats Xcel Energy on 10 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.
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New MarketBeat Followers Over Time
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding XEL and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Media Sentiment Over Time
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NASDAQ 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.
Xcel Energy Competitors List
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This page (NASDAQ:XEL) was last updated on 8/8/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
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