Avista (AVA) Competitors

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

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in LNT or AVA?

79.9% of Alliant Energy shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 85.2% of Avista shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Alliant Energy shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Avista shares are held 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 more risk and volatility, LNT or AVA?

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

Is LNT or AVA 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
Alliant Energy	18.26%	12.01%	3.71%
Avista	9.63%	7.28%	2.39%

Does the media favor LNT or AVA?

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 media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
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
Avista	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is LNT or AVA a better dividend stock?

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

Do analysts recommend LNT or AVA?

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

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

Which has higher valuation and earnings, LNT or AVA?

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
Alliant Energy	$3.98B	3.92	$690M	$2.90	20.95
Avista	$1.94B	1.58	$180M	$2.34	16.28

Summary

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