CMS Energy - CMS Competitors

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) and CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) are both large-cap utilities companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, valuation, community ranking, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings and risk.

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, AEE or CMS?

Ameren has higher earnings, but lower revenue than CMS Energy. Ameren 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
Ameren	$7.96 billion	2.84	$1.07 billion	$4.14	20.82
CMS Energy	$8.60 billion	2.08	$837 million	$2.85	21.47

Which has more volatility & risk, AEE or CMS?

Ameren has a beta of 0.41, indicating that its stock price is 59% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CMS Energy has a beta of 0.34, indicating that its stock price is 66% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts rate AEE or CMS?

Ameren currently has a consensus target price of $94.40, suggesting a potential upside of 9.51%. CMS Energy has a consensus target price of $66.80, suggesting a potential upside of 9.17%. Given Ameren's higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Ameren is more favorable than CMS Energy.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ameren	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
CMS Energy	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.78

Do insiders and institutionals believe in AEE or CMS?

78.4% of Ameren shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.2% of CMS Energy shares are held by institutional investors. 0.5% of Ameren shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of CMS Energy shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in AEE or CMS?

CMS Energy received 190 more outperform votes than Ameren when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 64.24% of users gave CMS Energy an outperform vote while only 54.57% of users gave Ameren an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Ameren	Outperform Votes 340 54.57%	Underperform Votes 283 45.43%
CMS Energy	Outperform Votes 530 64.24%	Underperform Votes 295 35.76%

Is AEE or CMS more profitable?

Ameren has a net margin of 13.50% compared to CMS Energy's net margin of 9.74%. CMS Energy's return on equity of 11.57% beat Ameren's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ameren	13.50%	10.50%	2.89%
CMS Energy	9.74%	11.57%	2.81%

Does the media prefer AEE or CMS?

In the previous week, CMS Energy had 1 more articles in the media than Ameren. MarketBeat recorded 9 mentions for CMS Energy and 8 mentions for Ameren. CMS Energy's average media sentiment score of 0.99 beat Ameren's score of 0.45 indicating that CMS Energy is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Ameren	4 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
CMS Energy	3 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is AEE or CMS a better dividend stock?

Ameren pays an annual dividend of $2.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. CMS Energy pays an annual dividend of $1.95 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Ameren pays out 60.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. CMS Energy pays out 68.4% 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. Ameren has increased its dividend for 10 consecutive years and CMS Energy has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Summary

CMS Energy beats Ameren on 11 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.