Ameren (AEE) Competitors

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) and Ameren (NYSE:AEE) are both large-cap utilities companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, community ranking, profitability, earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, media sentiment, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Which has better valuation and earnings, SRE or AEE?

Sempra has higher revenue and earnings than Ameren. Sempra is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ameren, 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
Sempra	$13.19B	3.73	$3.08B	$4.42	17.09
Ameren	$7.62B	3.52	$1.18B	$4.42	22.52

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in SRE or AEE?

Sempra received 130 more outperform votes than Ameren when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 60.29% of users gave Sempra an outperform vote while only 51.42% of users gave Ameren an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Sempra	Outperform Votes 492 60.29%	Underperform Votes 324 39.71%
Ameren	Outperform Votes 362 51.42%	Underperform Votes 342 48.58%

Does the media refer more to SRE or AEE?

In the previous week, Ameren had 10 more articles in the media than Sempra. MarketBeat recorded 32 mentions for Ameren and 22 mentions for Sempra. Sempra's average media sentiment score of 0.94 beat Ameren's score of 0.89 indicating that Sempra is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Sempra	15 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	3 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Ameren	17 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of SRE or AEE?

89.7% of Sempra shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.1% of Ameren shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Sempra shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Ameren shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more risk and volatility, SRE or AEE?

Sempra has a beta of 0.65, meaning that its share price is 35% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ameren has a beta of 0.45, meaning that its share price is 55% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is SRE or AEE a better dividend stock?

Sempra pays an annual dividend of $2.58 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. Ameren pays an annual dividend of $2.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Sempra pays out 58.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ameren pays out 64.3% 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. Sempra has raised its dividend for 22 consecutive years and Ameren has raised its dividend for 12 consecutive years. Sempra is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Is SRE or AEE more profitable?

Sempra has a net margin of 22.63% compared to Ameren's net margin of 15.51%. Ameren's return on equity of 10.34% beat Sempra's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sempra	22.63%	8.06%	3.04%
Ameren	15.51%	10.34%	2.86%

Do analysts prefer SRE or AEE?

Sempra presently has a consensus price target of $80.54, suggesting a potential upside of 6.65%. Ameren has a consensus price target of $99.33, suggesting a potential downside of 0.21%. Given Sempra's higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Sempra is more favorable than Ameren.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sempra	0 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.57
Ameren	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.82

Summary

Sempra beats Ameren on 15 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.