TransAlta (TA) Competitors

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

Do analysts recommend EMA or TA?

Emera presently has a consensus target price of C$65.50, suggesting a potential downside of 5.00%. TransAlta has a consensus target price of C$22.22, suggesting a potential downside of 7.91%. Given Emera's higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Emera is more favorable than TransAlta.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Emera	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.55
TransAlta	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

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

35.0% of Emera shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 34.4% of TransAlta shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.1% of Emera shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of TransAlta shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is EMA or TA a better dividend stock?

Emera pays an annual dividend of C$2.89 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.2%. TransAlta pays an annual dividend of C$0.25 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Emera pays out 98.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. TransAlta pays out -45.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Does the media favor EMA or TA?

In the previous week, Emera had 1 more articles in the media than TransAlta. MarketBeat recorded 17 mentions for Emera and 16 mentions for TransAlta. TransAlta's average media sentiment score of 0.31 beat Emera's score of 0.12 indicating that TransAlta is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Emera	2 Very Positive mention(s)	4 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
TransAlta	2 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Is EMA or TA 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
Emera	10.51%	6.06%	2.30%
TransAlta	7.49%	12.03%	7.07%

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, EMA or TA?

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
Emera	C$8.23B	2.51	C$757.30M	C$2.95	23.37
TransAlta	C$2.51B	2.85	C$212.05M	-C$0.54	-44.69

Which has more risk and volatility, EMA or TA?

Emera has a beta of 0.464825, indicating that its stock price is 54% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, TransAlta has a beta of 0.733733, indicating that its stock price is 27% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

TransAlta beats Emera on 10 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.