NRG Energy (NRG) Competitors

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

Is AES or NRG more profitable?

AES has a net margin of 8.34% compared to NRG Energy's net margin of 3.43%. NRG Energy's return on equity of 48.96% beat AES's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AES	8.34%	27.30%	3.76%
NRG Energy	3.43%	48.96%	4.73%

Which has better earnings & valuation, AES or NRG?

AES has higher earnings, but lower revenue than NRG Energy. AES is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than NRG 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
AES	$12.12B	0.66	$249M	$1.84	6.13
NRG Energy	$29.29B	0.99	-$202M	$6.20	23.94

Is AES or NRG a better dividend stock?

AES pays an annual dividend of $0.70 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.2%. NRG Energy pays an annual dividend of $1.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. AES pays out 38.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. NRG Energy pays out 28.4% 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. AES has increased its dividend for 12 consecutive years and NRG Energy has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. AES is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in AES or NRG?

93.1% of AES shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.7% of NRG Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of AES shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of NRG Energy shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Which has more risk & volatility, AES or NRG?

AES has a beta of 0.96, suggesting that its share price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NRG Energy has a beta of 1.13, suggesting that its share price is 13% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media prefer AES or NRG?

In the previous week, NRG Energy had 5 more articles in the media than AES. MarketBeat recorded 30 mentions for NRG Energy and 25 mentions for AES. NRG Energy's average media sentiment score of 0.84 beat AES's score of 0.70 indicating that NRG Energy is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
AES	10 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	9 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
NRG Energy	17 Very Positive mention(s)	4 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts prefer AES or NRG?

AES currently has a consensus target price of $24.22, suggesting a potential upside of 114.64%. NRG Energy has a consensus target price of $140.75, suggesting a potential downside of 5.19%. Given AES's higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe AES is more favorable than NRG Energy.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AES	2 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67
NRG Energy	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.75

Does the MarketBeat Community favor AES or NRG?

NRG Energy received 294 more outperform votes than AES when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 65.84% of users gave NRG Energy an outperform vote while only 61.35% of users gave AES an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
AES	Outperform Votes 400 61.35%	Underperform Votes 252 38.65%
NRG Energy	Outperform Votes 694 65.84%	Underperform Votes 360 34.16%

Summary

NRG Energy beats AES on 15 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.