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 companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation, risk, earnings and media sentiment.

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%

Which has more volatility and risk, TA or EMA?

TransAlta has a beta of 0.650585, meaning that its share price is 35% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Emera has a beta of 0.551603, meaning that its share price is 45% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media prefer TA or EMA?

In the previous week, Emera had 6 more articles in the media than TransAlta. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for Emera and 1 mentions for TransAlta. TransAlta's average media sentiment score of 0.75 beat Emera's score of -0.37 indicating that TransAlta is being referred to more favorably in the 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)	Positive
Emera	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, 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$2.51B	2.10	C$212.05M	-C$0.54	-32.89
Emera	C$8.23B	2.32	C$757.30M	C$2.95	21.59

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in TA or EMA?

34.9% of TransAlta shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 34.3% 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 large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Do analysts rate TA or EMA?

TransAlta presently has a consensus target price of C$19.22, suggesting a potential upside of 8.23%. Emera has a consensus target price of C$64.33, suggesting a potential upside of 1.01%. Given TransAlta's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly 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

Is TA or EMA a better dividend stock?

TransAlta pays an annual dividend of C$0.25 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Emera pays an annual dividend of C$2.89 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.5%. TransAlta pays out -45.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. 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.

Summary

TransAlta beats Emera on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.