AES (AES) Competitors

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

Which has more volatility and risk, AES or NRG?

AES has a beta of 0.96, meaning that its stock price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NRG Energy has a beta of 1.14, meaning that its stock price is 14% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do insiders & institutionals believe in AES or NRG?

93.1% of AES shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.7% of NRG Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of AES shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of NRG Energy shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Which has stronger earnings and valuation, AES or NRG?

AES has higher earnings, but lower revenue 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
AES	$12.28B	0.76	$1.68B	$1.42	9.22
NRG Energy	$28.13B	1.04	$1.13B	$2.21	68.40

Is AES or NRG more profitable?

AES has a net margin of 8.42% compared to NRG Energy's net margin of 1.78%. NRG Energy's return on equity of 88.22% beat AES's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AES	8.42%	19.02%	3.01%
NRG Energy	1.78%	88.22%	6.80%

Is AES or NRG a better dividend stock?

AES pays an annual dividend of $0.70 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.3%. NRG Energy pays an annual dividend of $1.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. AES pays out 49.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. NRG Energy pays out 79.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. AES has increased its dividend for 12 consecutive years and NRG Energy has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. AES is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do analysts recommend AES or NRG?

AES presently has a consensus target price of $24.67, suggesting a potential upside of 88.37%. NRG Energy has a consensus target price of $162.70, suggesting a potential upside of 7.64%. Given AES's higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe AES is more favorable than NRG Energy.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AES	2 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67
NRG Energy	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.90

Does the media favor AES or NRG?

In the previous week, AES had 5 more articles in the media than NRG Energy. MarketBeat recorded 31 mentions for AES and 26 mentions for NRG Energy. NRG Energy's average media sentiment score of 1.33 beat AES's score of 1.14 indicating that NRG Energy is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
AES	22 Very Positive mention(s)	4 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
NRG Energy	19 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

NRG Energy beats AES on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.