ATO vs. NFG, NJR, OGS, AES, AGR, CMS, CNP, LNT, VIV, and PPL
Should you be buying Atmos Energy stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Atmos Energy include National Fuel Gas (NFG), New Jersey Resources (NJR), ONE Gas (OGS), AES (AES), Avangrid (AGR), CMS Energy (CMS), CenterPoint Energy (CNP), Alliant Energy (LNT), Telefônica Brasil (VIV), and PPL (PPL). These companies are all part of the "utilities" sector.
Atmos Energy vs.
Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) and National Fuel Gas (NYSE:NFG) are both utilities companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, community ranking, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, risk, dividends, institutional ownership and profitability.
Atmos Energy received 18 more outperform votes than National Fuel Gas when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 67.68% of users gave National Fuel Gas an outperform vote while only 66.09% of users gave Atmos Energy an outperform vote.
Atmos Energy pays an annual dividend of $2.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. National Fuel Gas pays an annual dividend of $1.90 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Atmos Energy pays out 51.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. National Fuel Gas pays out 29.1% 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. National Fuel Gas is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
Atmos Energy has a beta of 0.61, meaning that its share price is 39% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, National Fuel Gas has a beta of 0.66, meaning that its share price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500.
91.0% of Atmos Energy shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 72.3% of National Fuel Gas shares are held by institutional investors. 0.5% of Atmos Energy shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.4% of National Fuel Gas shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
National Fuel Gas has a net margin of 26.25% compared to Atmos Energy's net margin of 17.06%. National Fuel Gas' return on equity of 27.11% beat Atmos Energy's return on equity.
Atmos Energy has higher revenue and earnings than National Fuel Gas. National Fuel Gas is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Atmos Energy, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Atmos Energy presently has a consensus target price of $121.88, suggesting a potential upside of 8.47%. National Fuel Gas has a consensus target price of $70.00, suggesting a potential upside of 21.23%. Given National Fuel Gas' higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe National Fuel Gas is more favorable than Atmos Energy.
In the previous week, Atmos Energy had 5 more articles in the media than National Fuel Gas. MarketBeat recorded 8 mentions for Atmos Energy and 3 mentions for National Fuel Gas. Atmos Energy's average media sentiment score of 1.42 beat National Fuel Gas' score of 0.92 indicating that Atmos Energy is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Summary
Atmos Energy and National Fuel Gas tied by winning 10 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.
New MarketBeat Followers Over Time
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding ATO and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Media Sentiment Over Time
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
Atmos Energy Competitors List
