CMS vs. AEP, EVRG, LNT, AEE, DTE, DUK, ED, OGE, SO, and WEC
Should you be buying CMS Energy stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of CMS Energy include American Electric Power (AEP), Evergy (EVRG), Alliant Energy (LNT), Ameren (AEE), DTE Energy (DTE), Duke Energy (DUK), Consolidated Edison (ED), OGE Energy (OGE), Southern (SO), and WEC Energy Group (WEC). These companies are all part of the "util - elec pwr" industry.
CMS Energy vs. Its Competitors
American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) and CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) are both large-cap utilities companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, risk, media sentiment, institutional ownership, earnings and profitability.
American Electric Power has higher revenue and earnings than CMS Energy. American Electric Power is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than CMS Energy, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
American Electric Power pays an annual dividend of $3.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. CMS Energy pays an annual dividend of $2.17 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. American Electric Power pays out 54.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. CMS Energy pays out 64.2% 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. American Electric Power has increased its dividend for 15 consecutive years and CMS Energy has increased its dividend for 3 consecutive years. American Electric Power is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
In the previous week, American Electric Power had 10 more articles in the media than CMS Energy. MarketBeat recorded 34 mentions for American Electric Power and 24 mentions for CMS Energy. American Electric Power's average media sentiment score of 1.28 beat CMS Energy's score of 0.97 indicating that American Electric Power is being referred to more favorably in the media.
75.2% of American Electric Power shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.6% of CMS Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.1% of American Electric Power shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of CMS Energy shares are owned 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.
American Electric Power has a beta of 0.46, indicating that its stock price is 54% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CMS Energy has a beta of 0.39, indicating that its stock price is 61% less volatile than the S&P 500.
American Electric Power has a net margin of 17.68% compared to CMS Energy's net margin of 12.76%. CMS Energy's return on equity of 12.07% beat American Electric Power's return on equity.
American Electric Power currently has a consensus target price of $111.93, suggesting a potential upside of 2.59%. CMS Energy has a consensus target price of $77.25, suggesting a potential upside of 7.83%. Given CMS Energy's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe CMS Energy is more favorable than American Electric Power.
Summary
American Electric Power beats CMS Energy on 12 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.
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New MarketBeat Followers Over Time
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding CMS 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.
CMS Energy Competitors List
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This page (NYSE:CMS) was last updated on 9/16/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
