Avista (AVA) Competitors

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

Do insiders & institutionals 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. 1.0% 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 hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Is AVA or LNT more profitable?

Alliant Energy has a net margin of 18.26% compared to Avista's net margin of 9.63%. Alliant Energy's return on equity of 12.01% beat Avista's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Avista	9.63%	7.28%	2.39%
Alliant Energy	18.26%	12.01%	3.71%

Which has stronger valuation & 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	1.58	$180M	$2.34	16.28
Alliant Energy	$3.98B	3.92	$690M	$2.90	20.95

Do analysts prefer AVA or LNT?

Avista presently has a consensus target price of $38.00, indicating a potential downside of 0.25%. Alliant Energy has a consensus target price of $63.95, indicating a potential upside of 5.25%. Given Alliant Energy's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Alliant Energy is more favorable than Avista.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Avista	1 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.50
Alliant Energy	1 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.30

Is AVA or LNT a better dividend stock?

Avista pays an annual dividend of $1.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.1%. Alliant Energy pays an annual dividend of $2.03 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Avista pays out 83.8% 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 70.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Avista has increased its dividend for 23 consecutive years and Alliant Energy has increased its dividend for 22 consecutive years. Avista is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has more volatility and risk, AVA or LNT?

Avista has a beta of 0.4, indicating that its stock price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Alliant Energy has a beta of 0.56, indicating that its stock price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media refer more to AVA or LNT?

In the previous week, Alliant Energy had 12 more articles in the media than Avista. MarketBeat recorded 14 mentions for Alliant Energy and 2 mentions for Avista. Alliant Energy's average media sentiment score of 1.58 beat Avista's score of 1.08 indicating that Alliant Energy is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Avista	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Alliant Energy	11 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Summary

Alliant Energy beats Avista on 15 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.