CMS Energy (CMS) Competitors

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) and CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) are both large-cap utilities companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability and media sentiment.

Do analysts prefer AEP or CMS?

American Electric Power presently has a consensus price target of $108.31, suggesting a potential downside of 1.68%. CMS Energy has a consensus price target of $77.25, suggesting a potential upside of 4.97%. Given CMS Energy's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe CMS Energy is more favorable than American Electric Power.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
American Electric Power	1 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.31
CMS Energy	0 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.54

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, AEP or CMS?

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.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
American Electric Power	$20.16B	2.92	$2.97B	$5.19	21.23
CMS Energy	$7.52B	2.93	$1.00B	$3.37	21.84

Is AEP or CMS a better dividend stock?

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 2.9%. American Electric Power pays out 71.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. CMS Energy pays out 64.4% 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.

Which has more risk and volatility, AEP or CMS?

American Electric Power has a beta of 0.42, suggesting that its share price is 58% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CMS Energy has a beta of 0.38, suggesting that its share price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in AEP or CMS?

75.2% of American Electric Power shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.6% of CMS Energy shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of American Electric Power shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of CMS Energy shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media prefer AEP or CMS?

In the previous week, American Electric Power had 10 more articles in the media than CMS Energy. MarketBeat recorded 21 mentions for American Electric Power and 11 mentions for CMS Energy. American Electric Power's average media sentiment score of 1.18 beat CMS Energy's score of 1.16 indicating that American Electric Power is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
American Electric Power	16 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
CMS Energy	6 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is AEP or CMS more profitable?

American Electric Power has a net margin of 13.73% compared to CMS Energy's net margin of 13.10%. CMS Energy's return on equity of 12.06% beat American Electric Power's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
American Electric Power	13.73%	11.68%	3.08%
CMS Energy	13.10%	12.06%	2.90%

Summary

American Electric Power beats CMS Energy on 10 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.