Xcel Energy (XEL) Competitors

National Grid (NYSE:NGG) and Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) are both large-cap utilities companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, earnings, valuation, community ranking, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, dividends and institutional ownership.

Is NGG or XEL more profitable?

Xcel Energy has a net margin of 14.40% compared to National Grid's net margin of 0.00%. Xcel Energy's return on equity of 10.65% beat National Grid's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
National Grid	N/A	N/A	N/A
Xcel Energy	14.40%	10.65%	2.90%

Does the MarketBeat Community favor NGG or XEL?

National Grid received 465 more outperform votes than Xcel Energy when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 58.48% of users gave National Grid an outperform vote while only 32.89% of users gave Xcel Energy an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
National Grid	Outperform Votes 514 58.48%	Underperform Votes 365 41.52%
Xcel Energy	Outperform Votes 49 32.89%	Underperform Votes 100 67.11%

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of NGG or XEL?

4.7% of National Grid shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.4% of Xcel Energy shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of Xcel Energy shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more risk and volatility, NGG or XEL?

National Grid has a beta of 0.58, meaning that its stock price is 42% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Xcel Energy has a beta of 0.39, meaning that its stock price is 61% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts rate NGG or XEL?

Xcel Energy has a consensus price target of $76.00, suggesting a potential upside of 7.50%. Given Xcel Energy's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Xcel Energy is more favorable than National Grid.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
National Grid	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.80
Xcel Energy	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.80

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, NGG or XEL?

National Grid has higher revenue and earnings than Xcel Energy. National Grid is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Xcel Energy, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
National Grid	$19.32B	3.70	$2.88B	$5.20	14.04
Xcel Energy	$13.44B	3.03	$1.94B	$3.40	20.79

Is NGG or XEL a better dividend stock?

National Grid pays an annual dividend of $2.01 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Xcel Energy pays an annual dividend of $2.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. National Grid pays out 38.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Xcel Energy pays out 67.1% 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. Xcel Energy is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Does the media refer more to NGG or XEL?

In the previous week, Xcel Energy had 21 more articles in the media than National Grid. MarketBeat recorded 44 mentions for Xcel Energy and 23 mentions for National Grid. Xcel Energy's average media sentiment score of 1.05 beat National Grid's score of 0.17 indicating that Xcel Energy is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
National Grid	5 Very Positive mention(s)	4 Positive mention(s)	11 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Xcel Energy	27 Very Positive mention(s)	10 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Xcel Energy beats National Grid on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.