Northwest Natural (NWN) Competitors

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

Is NWN or UGI more profitable?

Northwest Natural has a net margin of 6.90% compared to UGI's net margin of 3.73%. UGI's return on equity of 14.64% beat Northwest Natural's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Northwest Natural	6.90%	5.89%	1.61%
UGI	3.73%	14.64%	4.28%

Do analysts prefer NWN or UGI?

Northwest Natural currently has a consensus target price of $43.50, suggesting a potential upside of 1.33%. UGI has a consensus target price of $28.33, suggesting a potential downside of 1.98%. Given Northwest Natural's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Northwest Natural is more favorable than UGI.

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
UGI	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67

Does the media prefer NWN or UGI?

In the previous week, UGI had 6 more articles in the media than Northwest Natural. MarketBeat recorded 13 mentions for UGI and 7 mentions for Northwest Natural. Northwest Natural's average media sentiment score of 1.35 beat UGI's score of 0.88 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	6 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
UGI	12 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, NWN or UGI?

UGI has higher revenue and earnings than Northwest Natural. Northwest Natural is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than UGI, 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	$1.20B	1.44	$93.87M	$2.12	20.25
UGI	$7.21B	0.86	$269M	$1.24	23.31

Does the MarketBeat Community favor NWN or UGI?

Northwest Natural received 51 more outperform votes than UGI when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 53.72% of users gave UGI an outperform vote while only 52.08% of users gave Northwest Natural an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Northwest Natural	Outperform Votes 275 52.08%	Underperform Votes 253 47.92%
UGI	Outperform Votes 224 53.72%	Underperform Votes 193 46.28%

Is NWN or UGI a better dividend stock?

Northwest Natural pays an annual dividend of $1.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.6%. UGI pays an annual dividend of $1.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.2%. Northwest Natural pays out 92.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. UGI pays out 121.0% 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 and UGI has raised its dividend for 36 consecutive years.

Which has more risk & volatility, NWN or UGI?

Northwest Natural has a beta of 0.61, suggesting that its stock price is 39% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, UGI has a beta of 1.21, suggesting that its stock price is 21% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do insiders & institutionals believe in NWN or UGI?

75.1% of Northwest Natural shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 82.3% of UGI shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.8% of Northwest Natural shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of UGI shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Northwest Natural and UGI tied by winning 10 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.