AES (AES) Competitors

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

Do analysts rate AES or NRG?

AES presently has a consensus price target of $13.71, suggesting a potential upside of 37.42%. NRG Energy has a consensus price target of $124.00, suggesting a potential upside of 15.19%. Given AES's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe AES is more favorable than NRG Energy.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AES	1 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.80
NRG Energy	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.75

Does the media favor AES or NRG?

In the previous week, AES had 1 more articles in the media than NRG Energy. MarketBeat recorded 26 mentions for AES and 25 mentions for NRG Energy. NRG Energy's average media sentiment score of 1.30 beat AES's score of 0.80 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	17 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	2 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
NRG Energy	19 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do insiders and institutionals believe in AES or NRG?

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

Does the MarketBeat Community favor AES or NRG?

NRG Energy received 292 more outperform votes than AES when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 65.87% of users gave NRG Energy an outperform vote while only 61.86% of users gave AES an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
AES	Outperform Votes 399 61.86%	Underperform Votes 246 38.14%
NRG Energy	Outperform Votes 691 65.87%	Underperform Votes 358 34.13%

Which has more risk & volatility, AES or NRG?

AES has a beta of 0.81, suggesting that its stock price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NRG Energy has a beta of 1.1, suggesting that its stock price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, 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	0.58	$249M	$2.37	4.21
NRG Energy	$28.13B	0.78	-$202M	$4.90	21.97

Is AES or NRG 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
AES	8.34%	27.30%	3.76%
NRG Energy	3.43%	48.96%	4.73%

Is AES or NRG a better dividend stock?

AES pays an annual dividend of $0.70 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.0%. NRG Energy pays an annual dividend of $1.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. AES pays out 29.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. NRG Energy pays out 35.9% 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. AES has raised its dividend for 12 consecutive years. AES is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

NRG Energy beats AES on 12 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.