Avista (AVA) Competitors

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

Do institutionals and insiders believe in AVA or LNT?

85.2% of Avista shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.9% of Alliant Energy shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of Avista shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Alliant Energy shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, AVA or LNT?

Alliant Energy has higher revenue and earnings than Avista. Avista is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Alliant 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
Avista	$1.94B	1.52	$180M	$2.22	16.32
Alliant Energy	$3.98B	4.18	$690M	$3.24	19.99

Does the media prefer AVA or LNT?

In the previous week, Alliant Energy had 12 more articles in the media than Avista. MarketBeat recorded 22 mentions for Alliant Energy and 10 mentions for Avista. Avista's average media sentiment score of 1.72 beat Alliant Energy's score of 1.55 indicating that Avista is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Avista	10 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
Alliant Energy	17 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Is AVA or LNT a better dividend stock?

Avista pays an annual dividend of $1.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.4%. Alliant Energy pays an annual dividend of $2.03 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Avista pays out 88.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Alliant Energy pays out 62.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Avista has raised its dividend for 23 consecutive years and Alliant Energy has raised its dividend for 22 consecutive years. Avista is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Is AVA or LNT more profitable?

Alliant Energy has a net margin of 20.07% compared to Avista's net margin of 9.13%. Alliant Energy's return on equity of 12.25% beat Avista's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Avista	9.13%	6.86%	2.25%
Alliant Energy	20.07%	12.25%	3.75%

Do analysts prefer AVA or LNT?

Avista currently has a consensus target price of $39.00, suggesting a potential upside of 7.65%. Alliant Energy has a consensus target price of $65.50, suggesting a potential upside of 1.14%. Given Avista's higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Avista is more favorable than Alliant Energy.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Avista	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
Alliant Energy	1 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.30

Which has more volatility & risk, AVA or LNT?

Avista has a beta of 0.41, meaning that its stock price is 59% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Alliant Energy has a beta of 0.54, meaning that its stock price is 46% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Alliant Energy beats Avista on 13 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.