Fortis - FTS Competitors

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

Is FTS or PPL a better dividend stock?

Fortis pays an annual dividend of $1.69 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. PPL pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Fortis pays out 79.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. PPL pays out 93.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Fortis is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Is FTS or PPL more profitable?

Fortis has a net margin of 12.20% compared to PPL's net margin of 9.57%. PPL's return on equity of 7.50% beat Fortis' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Fortis	12.20%	6.48%	2.16%
PPL	9.57%	7.50%	2.84%

Do analysts prefer FTS or PPL?

Fortis currently has a consensus price target of $58.75, indicating a potential upside of 41.43%. PPL has a consensus price target of $30.63, indicating a potential upside of 13.59%. Given Fortis' higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Fortis is more favorable than PPL.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Fortis	1 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
PPL	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.70

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in FTS or PPL?

49.6% of Fortis shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 70.0% of PPL shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of PPL shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Which has better valuation and earnings, FTS or PPL?

Fortis has higher revenue and earnings than PPL. Fortis is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than PPL, 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
Fortis	$8.49 billion	2.36	$1.07 billion	$2.13	19.50
PPL	$7.90 billion	2.51	$756 million	$1.03	26.18

Does the MarketBeat Community favor FTS or PPL?

PPL received 285 more outperform votes than Fortis when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 61.60% of users gave PPL an outperform vote while only 55.05% of users gave Fortis an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Fortis	Outperform Votes 278 55.05%	Underperform Votes 227 44.95%
PPL	Outperform Votes 563 61.60%	Underperform Votes 351 38.40%

Which has more volatility and risk, FTS or PPL?

Fortis has a beta of 0.42, indicating that its share price is 58% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, PPL has a beta of 0.77, indicating that its share price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media prefer FTS or PPL?

In the previous week, Fortis and Fortis both had 5 articles in the media. Fortis' average media sentiment score of 0.15 beat PPL's score of -0.03 indicating that Fortis is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Fortis	0 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
PPL	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Summary

PPL beats Fortis on 11 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.