NEE vs. SO, DUK, EIX, ETR, FE, ES, PPL, PNW, OGE, and IDA
Should you be buying NextEra Energy stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of NextEra Energy include Southern (SO), Duke Energy (DUK), Edison International (EIX), Entergy (ETR), FirstEnergy (FE), Eversource Energy (ES), PPL (PPL), Pinnacle West Capital (PNW), OGE Energy (OGE), and IDACORP (IDA). These companies are all part of the "electric utilities" industry.
Southern (NYSE:SO) and NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) are both large-cap utilities companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, risk, dividends, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, community ranking and media sentiment.
NextEra Energy has a net margin of 24.45% compared to NextEra Energy's net margin of 16.74%. NextEra Energy's return on equity of 12.07% beat Southern's return on equity.
NextEra Energy received 237 more outperform votes than Southern when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 72.03% of users gave NextEra Energy an outperform vote while only 49.86% of users gave Southern an outperform vote.
Southern has a beta of 0.51, suggesting that its stock price is 49% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NextEra Energy has a beta of 0.54, suggesting that its stock price is 46% less volatile than the S&P 500.
NextEra Energy has higher revenue and earnings than Southern. NextEra Energy is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Southern, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
In the previous week, NextEra Energy had 41 more articles in the media than Southern. MarketBeat recorded 59 mentions for NextEra Energy and 18 mentions for Southern. Southern's average media sentiment score of 0.96 beat NextEra Energy's score of 0.94 indicating that NextEra Energy is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
64.1% of Southern shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.7% of NextEra Energy shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of Southern shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of NextEra Energy shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Southern pays an annual dividend of $2.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. NextEra Energy pays an annual dividend of $2.06 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Southern pays out 74.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. NextEra Energy pays out 56.1% 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. Southern has increased its dividend for 24 consecutive years and NextEra Energy has increased its dividend for 30 consecutive years.
Southern currently has a consensus price target of $76.50, indicating a potential downside of 6.91%. NextEra Energy has a consensus price target of $78.00, indicating a potential upside of 5.05%. Given Southern's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe NextEra Energy is more favorable than Southern.
Summary
NextEra Energy beats Southern on 16 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.
Get NextEra Energy News Delivered to You Automatically
Sign up to receive the latest news and ratings for NEE and its competitors with MarketBeat's FREE daily newsletter.
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding NEE and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
NextEra Energy Competitors List
Related Companies and Tools
