MDU Resources Group (MDU) Competitors

MDU Resources Group (NYSE:MDU) and CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) are both utilities companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, media sentiment, earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, community ranking, risk and valuation.

Which has more volatility and risk, MDU or CMS?

MDU Resources Group has a beta of 0.77, suggesting that its stock price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CMS Energy has a beta of 0.4, suggesting that its stock price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is MDU or CMS a better dividend stock?

MDU Resources Group pays an annual dividend of $0.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. CMS Energy pays an annual dividend of $2.06 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. MDU Resources Group pays out 22.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. CMS Energy pays out 62.8% 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.

Do analysts recommend MDU or CMS?

MDU Resources Group currently has a consensus price target of $30.00, indicating a potential upside of 11.48%. CMS Energy has a consensus price target of $69.38, indicating a potential downside of 2.47%. Given MDU Resources Group's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe MDU Resources Group is more favorable than CMS Energy.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
MDU Resources Group	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
CMS Energy	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	10 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67

Is MDU or CMS more profitable?

CMS Energy has a net margin of 13.10% compared to MDU Resources Group's net margin of 9.25%. CMS Energy's return on equity of 12.25% beat MDU Resources Group's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
MDU Resources Group	9.25%	11.29%	4.18%
CMS Energy	13.10%	12.25%	2.92%

Do insiders and institutionals believe in MDU or CMS?

71.4% of MDU Resources Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.6% of CMS Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of MDU Resources Group shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of CMS Energy shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor MDU or CMS?

CMS Energy received 283 more outperform votes than MDU Resources Group when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 62.50% of users gave CMS Energy an outperform vote while only 61.68% of users gave MDU Resources Group an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
MDU Resources Group	Outperform Votes 272 61.68%	Underperform Votes 169 38.32%
CMS Energy	Outperform Votes 555 62.50%	Underperform Votes 333 37.50%

Does the media prefer MDU or CMS?

In the previous week, CMS Energy had 10 more articles in the media than MDU Resources Group. MarketBeat recorded 17 mentions for CMS Energy and 7 mentions for MDU Resources Group. CMS Energy's average media sentiment score of 1.17 beat MDU Resources Group's score of 0.44 indicating that CMS Energy is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
MDU Resources Group	2 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
CMS Energy	11 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has higher valuation and earnings, MDU or CMS?

CMS Energy has higher revenue and earnings than MDU Resources Group. MDU Resources Group 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
MDU Resources Group	$4.40B	1.25	$414.71M	$2.34	11.50
CMS Energy	$7.41B	2.87	$887M	$3.28	21.69

Summary

CMS Energy beats MDU Resources Group on 14 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.