Northwest Natural (NWN) Competitors

Northwest Natural (NYSE:NWN) and Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) are both utilities companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, dividends, valuation and community ranking.

Is NWN or SWX a better dividend stock?

Northwest Natural pays an annual dividend of $1.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.5%. Southwest Gas pays an annual dividend of $2.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Northwest Natural pays out 96.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Southwest Gas pays out 90.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Northwest Natural has raised its dividend for 70 consecutive years. Northwest Natural is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has higher valuation and earnings, NWN or SWX?

Southwest Gas has higher revenue and earnings than Northwest Natural. Northwest Natural is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Southwest Gas, 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
Northwest Natural	$1.15B	1.51	$93.87M	$2.03	21.27
Southwest Gas	$5.11B	1.04	$150.89M	$2.75	26.92

Do analysts prefer NWN or SWX?

Northwest Natural currently has a consensus price target of $43.50, indicating a potential upside of 0.76%. Southwest Gas has a consensus price target of $74.00, indicating a potential downside of 0.04%. Given Northwest Natural's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Northwest Natural is more favorable than Southwest Gas.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Northwest Natural	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Southwest Gas	1 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.20

Do institutionals & insiders believe in NWN or SWX?

75.1% of Northwest Natural shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.8% of Southwest Gas shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of Northwest Natural shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of Southwest Gas shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Which has more risk & volatility, NWN or SWX?

Northwest Natural has a beta of 0.56, meaning that its share price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Southwest Gas has a beta of 0.5, meaning that its share price is 50% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in NWN or SWX?

Southwest Gas received 4 more outperform votes than Northwest Natural when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 52.08% of users gave Northwest Natural an outperform vote while only 51.19% of users gave Southwest Gas an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Northwest Natural	Outperform Votes 275 52.08%	Underperform Votes 253 47.92%
Southwest Gas	Outperform Votes 279 51.19%	Underperform Votes 266 48.81%

Is NWN or SWX more profitable?

Northwest Natural has a net margin of 6.90% compared to Southwest Gas' net margin of 3.44%. Southwest Gas' return on equity of 5.99% beat Northwest Natural's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Northwest Natural	6.90%	5.89%	1.61%
Southwest Gas	3.44%	5.99%	1.76%

Does the media refer more to NWN or SWX?

In the previous week, Southwest Gas had 4 more articles in the media than Northwest Natural. MarketBeat recorded 13 mentions for Southwest Gas and 9 mentions for Northwest Natural. Northwest Natural's average media sentiment score of 1.60 beat Southwest Gas' score of 1.02 indicating that Northwest Natural is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Northwest Natural	8 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
Southwest Gas	7 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Northwest Natural and Southwest Gas tied by winning 11 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.