AES (AES) Competitors

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) and AES (NYSE:AES) are both utilities companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, profitability, risk, institutional ownership, community ranking and valuation.

Does the media favor NRG or AES?

In the previous week, NRG Energy had 8 more articles in the media than AES. MarketBeat recorded 40 mentions for NRG Energy and 32 mentions for AES. NRG Energy's average media sentiment score of 1.21 beat AES's score of 0.79 indicating that NRG Energy is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
NRG Energy	29 Very Positive mention(s)	7 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
AES	14 Very Positive mention(s)	7 Positive mention(s)	8 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of NRG or AES?

97.7% of NRG Energy shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.1% of AES shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of NRG Energy shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of AES shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is NRG or AES more profitable?

AES has a net margin of 8.34% compared to NRG Energy's net margin of 3.43%. NRG Energy's return on equity of 48.96% beat AES's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
NRG Energy	3.43%	48.96%	4.73%
AES	8.34%	27.30%	3.76%

Which has more risk and volatility, NRG or AES?

NRG Energy has a beta of 1, meaning that its stock price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.Comparatively, AES has a beta of 0.94, meaning that its stock price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts rate NRG or AES?

NRG Energy currently has a consensus target price of $140.75, suggesting a potential downside of 11.83%. AES has a consensus target price of $24.22, suggesting a potential upside of 115.69%. Given AES's higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe AES is more favorable than NRG Energy.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
NRG Energy	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.75
AES	2 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.73

Is NRG or AES a better dividend stock?

NRG Energy pays an annual dividend of $1.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. AES pays an annual dividend of $0.70 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.2%. NRG Energy pays out 28.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. AES pays out 38.0% 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. NRG Energy has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years and AES has increased its dividend for 12 consecutive years. AES is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in NRG or AES?

NRG Energy received 294 more outperform votes than AES when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 65.91% of users gave NRG Energy an outperform vote while only 61.63% of users gave AES an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
NRG Energy	Outperform Votes 694 65.91%	Underperform Votes 359 34.09%
AES	Outperform Votes 400 61.63%	Underperform Votes 249 38.37%

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, NRG or AES?

AES has lower revenue, but higher earnings than NRG Energy. AES is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than NRG 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
NRG Energy	$29.29B	1.07	-$202M	$6.20	25.75
AES	$12.12B	0.66	$249M	$1.84	6.10

Summary

NRG Energy beats AES on 15 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.