TransAlta (TA) Competitors

TransAlta (TSE:TA) and Emera (TSE:EMA) are both utilities companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, risk, media sentiment, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Is TA or EMA more profitable?

Emera has a net margin of 10.51% compared to TransAlta's net margin of 7.49%. TransAlta's return on equity of 12.03% beat Emera's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
TransAlta	7.49%	12.03%	7.07%
Emera	10.51%	6.06%	2.30%

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of TA or EMA?

70.8% of TransAlta shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 28.1% of Emera shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of TransAlta shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Emera shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Is TA or EMA a better dividend stock?

TransAlta pays an annual dividend of C$0.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Emera pays an annual dividend of C$2.90 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.4%. TransAlta pays out 34.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Emera pays out 112.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Which has better earnings & valuation, TA or EMA?

Emera has higher revenue and earnings than TransAlta. TransAlta is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Emera, 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
TransAlta	C$2.83B	1.81	C$212.05M	C$0.70	24.29
Emera	C$7.21B	2.69	C$757.30M	C$2.58	25.65

Do analysts recommend TA or EMA?

TransAlta presently has a consensus target price of C$19.22, suggesting a potential upside of 12.81%. Emera has a consensus target price of C$64.33, suggesting a potential downside of 2.78%. Given TransAlta's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe TransAlta is more favorable than Emera.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
TransAlta	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.11
Emera	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.55

Does the media prefer TA or EMA?

In the previous week, Emera had 50 more articles in the media than TransAlta. MarketBeat recorded 51 mentions for Emera and 1 mentions for TransAlta. Emera's average media sentiment score of 0.62 beat TransAlta's score of 0.40 indicating that Emera is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
TransAlta	0 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Emera	8 Very Positive mention(s)	8 Positive mention(s)	8 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more risk and volatility, TA or EMA?

TransAlta has a beta of 0.93, suggesting that its stock price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Emera has a beta of 0.35, suggesting that its stock price is 65% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

TransAlta and Emera tied by winning 9 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.