SWX vs. CPK, UGI, MDU, NFG, IDA, BIPC, ELP, AQN, POR, and NJR
Should you be buying Southwest Gas stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Southwest Gas include Chesapeake Utilities (CPK), UGI (UGI), MDU Resources Group (MDU), National Fuel Gas (NFG), IDACORP (IDA), Brookfield Infrastructure (BIPC), Companhia Paranaense de Energia - COPEL (ELP), Algonquin Power & Utilities (AQN), Portland General Electric (POR), and New Jersey Resources (NJR). These companies are all part of the "utilities" sector.
Chesapeake Utilities (NYSE:CPK) and Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) are both mid-cap utilities companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, profitability, community ranking, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, media sentiment, risk and valuation.
Chesapeake Utilities received 60 more outperform votes than Southwest Gas when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 60.98% of users gave Chesapeake Utilities an outperform vote while only 51.59% of users gave Southwest Gas an outperform vote.
In the previous week, Southwest Gas had 12 more articles in the media than Chesapeake Utilities. MarketBeat recorded 15 mentions for Southwest Gas and 3 mentions for Chesapeake Utilities. Southwest Gas' average media sentiment score of 0.76 beat Chesapeake Utilities' score of 0.23 indicating that Chesapeake Utilities is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Chesapeake Utilities presently has a consensus price target of $107.00, suggesting a potential upside of 0.48%. Southwest Gas has a consensus price target of $73.00, suggesting a potential downside of 2.67%. Given Southwest Gas' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Chesapeake Utilities is more favorable than Southwest Gas.
Chesapeake Utilities has a beta of 0.6, indicating that its share price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Southwest Gas has a beta of 0.35, indicating that its share price is 65% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Southwest Gas has higher revenue and earnings than Chesapeake Utilities. Chesapeake Utilities is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Southwest Gas, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
83.1% of Chesapeake Utilities shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.8% of Southwest Gas shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.7% of Chesapeake Utilities shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of Southwest Gas shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Chesapeake Utilities pays an annual dividend of $2.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Southwest Gas pays an annual dividend of $2.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Chesapeake Utilities pays out 49.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Southwest Gas pays out 117.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Chesapeake Utilities has increased its dividend for 20 consecutive years.
Chesapeake Utilities has a net margin of 13.01% compared to Chesapeake Utilities' net margin of 2.78%. Southwest Gas' return on equity of 10.19% beat Chesapeake Utilities' return on equity.
Summary
Chesapeake Utilities beats Southwest Gas on 15 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding SWX and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Skip ChartThis 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.
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