ATCO (ACO.X) Competitors

Canadian Utilities (TSE:CU) and ATCO (TSE:ACO.X) are both mid-cap utilities companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, community ranking and media sentiment.

Is CU or ACO.X a better dividend stock?

Canadian Utilities pays an annual dividend of C$1.81 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.7%. ATCO pays an annual dividend of C$1.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. Canadian Utilities pays out 97.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. ATCO pays out 57.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in CU or ACO.X?

14.1% of Canadian Utilities shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 28.4% of ATCO shares are owned by institutional investors. 37.6% of Canadian Utilities shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of ATCO shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has better valuation and earnings, CU or ACO.X?

ATCO has higher revenue and earnings than Canadian Utilities. ATCO is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Canadian Utilities, 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
Canadian Utilities	C$2.81B	2.78	C$376.93M	C$1.85	20.63
ATCO	C$4.71B	1.11	C$385M	C$3.42	15.30

Do analysts prefer CU or ACO.X?

Canadian Utilities presently has a consensus price target of C$38.60, indicating a potential upside of 1.10%. ATCO has a consensus price target of C$52.70, indicating a potential upside of 0.69%. Given Canadian Utilities' higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Canadian Utilities is more favorable than ATCO.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Canadian Utilities	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
ATCO	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.25

Is CU or ACO.X more profitable?

Canadian Utilities has a net margin of 13.41% compared to ATCO's net margin of 8.16%. ATCO's return on equity of 8.54% beat Canadian Utilities' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Canadian Utilities	13.41%	7.21%	2.66%
ATCO	8.16%	8.54%	2.95%

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in CU or ACO.X?

Canadian Utilities received 217 more outperform votes than ATCO when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 58.90% of users gave Canadian Utilities an outperform vote while only 45.22% of users gave ATCO an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Canadian Utilities	Outperform Votes 430 58.90%	Underperform Votes 300 41.10%
ATCO	Outperform Votes 213 45.22%	Underperform Votes 258 54.78%

Does the media prefer CU or ACO.X?

In the previous week, Canadian Utilities had 2 more articles in the media than ATCO. MarketBeat recorded 2 mentions for Canadian Utilities and 0 mentions for ATCO. ATCO's average media sentiment score of 0.76 beat Canadian Utilities' score of 0.05 indicating that ATCO is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Canadian Utilities	Neutral
ATCO	Positive

Which has more volatility and risk, CU or ACO.X?

Canadian Utilities has a beta of 0.66, suggesting that its stock price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ATCO has a beta of 0.74, suggesting that its stock price is 26% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

ATCO beats Canadian Utilities on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.