CenterPoint Energy (CNP) Competitors

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

Is CNP or SRE a better dividend stock?

CenterPoint Energy pays an annual dividend of $0.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Sempra pays an annual dividend of $2.58 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. CenterPoint Energy pays out 59.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Sempra pays out 56.7% 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. CenterPoint Energy has raised its dividend for 5 consecutive years and Sempra has raised its dividend for 22 consecutive years. Sempra is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do institutionals & insiders believe in CNP or SRE?

91.8% of CenterPoint Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.7% of Sempra shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.1% of CenterPoint Energy shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Sempra shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has higher valuation & earnings, CNP or SRE?

Sempra has higher revenue and earnings than CenterPoint Energy. Sempra is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than CenterPoint 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
CenterPoint Energy	$8.94B	2.66	$917M	$1.49	24.42
Sempra	$13.35B	3.72	$3.08B	$4.55	16.73

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in CNP or SRE?

Sempra received 29 more outperform votes than CenterPoint Energy when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 60.27% of users gave Sempra an outperform vote while only 54.78% of users gave CenterPoint Energy an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
CenterPoint Energy	Outperform Votes 464 54.78%	Underperform Votes 383 45.22%
Sempra	Outperform Votes 493 60.27%	Underperform Votes 325 39.73%

Does the media refer more to CNP or SRE?

In the previous week, Sempra had 5 more articles in the media than CenterPoint Energy. MarketBeat recorded 13 mentions for Sempra and 8 mentions for CenterPoint Energy. Sempra's average media sentiment score of 1.42 beat CenterPoint Energy's score of 1.27 indicating that Sempra is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
CenterPoint Energy	5 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Sempra	11 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more risk and volatility, CNP or SRE?

CenterPoint Energy has a beta of 0.59, meaning that its share price is 41% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sempra has a beta of 0.64, meaning that its share price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is CNP or SRE more profitable?

Sempra has a net margin of 22.63% compared to CenterPoint Energy's net margin of 11.79%. CenterPoint Energy's return on equity of 10.02% beat Sempra's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CenterPoint Energy	11.79%	10.02%	2.48%
Sempra	22.63%	8.06%	3.04%

Do analysts rate CNP or SRE?

CenterPoint Energy currently has a consensus target price of $36.04, indicating a potential downside of 0.93%. Sempra has a consensus target price of $80.75, indicating a potential upside of 6.08%. Given Sempra's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Sempra is more favorable than CenterPoint Energy.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CenterPoint Energy	0 Sell rating(s)	9 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.36
Sempra	0 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.54

Summary

Sempra beats CenterPoint Energy on 18 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.