NextEra Energy (NEE) Competitors

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

Is NEE or AEP a better dividend stock?

NextEra Energy pays an annual dividend of $2.27 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. American Electric Power pays an annual dividend of $3.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. NextEra Energy pays out 79.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. American Electric Power pays out 54.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. NextEra Energy has increased its dividend for 31 consecutive years and American Electric Power has increased its dividend for 15 consecutive years. American Electric Power is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of NEE or AEP?

78.7% of NextEra Energy shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.2% of American Electric Power shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of NextEra Energy shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of American Electric Power shares are held by company 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.

Which has better earnings and valuation, NEE or AEP?

NextEra Energy has higher revenue and earnings than American Electric Power. American Electric Power is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than NextEra 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
NextEra Energy	$24.75B	6.33	$6.95B	$2.86	26.62
American Electric Power	$19.72B	3.09	$2.97B	$6.84	16.64

Do analysts recommend NEE or AEP?

NextEra Energy currently has a consensus price target of $84.23, suggesting a potential upside of 10.63%. American Electric Power has a consensus price target of $111.29, suggesting a potential downside of 2.24%. Given NextEra Energy's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe NextEra Energy is more favorable than American Electric Power.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
NextEra Energy	0 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.65
American Electric Power	1 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.29

Does the media refer more to NEE or AEP?

In the previous week, NextEra Energy had 26 more articles in the media than American Electric Power. MarketBeat recorded 59 mentions for NextEra Energy and 33 mentions for American Electric Power. NextEra Energy's average media sentiment score of 1.52 beat American Electric Power's score of 1.45 indicating that NextEra Energy is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
NextEra Energy	46 Very Positive mention(s)	6 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	2 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
American Electric Power	26 Very Positive mention(s)	5 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is NEE or AEP more profitable?

NextEra Energy has a net margin of 22.84% compared to American Electric Power's net margin of 17.68%. NextEra Energy's return on equity of 12.31% beat American Electric Power's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
NextEra Energy	22.84%	12.31%	3.86%
American Electric Power	17.68%	11.55%	3.11%

Which has more volatility and risk, NEE or AEP?

NextEra Energy has a beta of 0.63, indicating that its stock price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, American Electric Power has a beta of 0.4, indicating that its stock price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

NextEra Energy beats American Electric Power on 17 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.