Centrica (CNA) Competitors

Severn Trent (LON:SVT) and Centrica (LON:CNA) are both mid-cap utilities companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, dividends, community ranking, media sentiment, profitability, risk, institutional ownership and analyst recommendations.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor SVT or CNA?

Centrica received 618 more outperform votes than Severn Trent when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 57.96% of users gave Centrica an outperform vote while only 52.37% of users gave Severn Trent an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Severn Trent	Outperform Votes 365 52.37%	Underperform Votes 332 47.63%
Centrica	Outperform Votes 983 57.96%	Underperform Votes 713 42.04%

Do analysts prefer SVT or CNA?

Severn Trent currently has a consensus target price of GBX 2,940, indicating a potential upside of 19.61%. Centrica has a consensus target price of GBX 156.25, indicating a potential upside of 16.87%. Given Centrica's higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Severn Trent is more favorable than Centrica.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Severn Trent	1 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.40
Centrica	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.80

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in SVT or CNA?

78.3% of Severn Trent shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 64.3% of Centrica shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Severn Trent shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Centrica shares are held 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.

Which has higher earnings & valuation, SVT or CNA?

Centrica has higher revenue and earnings than Severn Trent. Centrica is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Severn Trent, 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
Severn Trent	£2.27B	3.24	£105M	£0.42	5,852.38
Centrica	£26.46B	0.27	£3.93B	£0.69	193.77

Is SVT or CNA more profitable?

Centrica has a net margin of 14.85% compared to Centrica's net margin of 4.63%. Severn Trent's return on equity of 146.56% beat Centrica's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Severn Trent	4.63%	10.14%	2.47%
Centrica	14.85%	146.56%	-10.85%

Does the media favor SVT or CNA?

In the previous week, Centrica had 6 more articles in the media than Severn Trent. MarketBeat recorded 6 mentions for Centrica and 0 mentions for Severn Trent. Severn Trent's average media sentiment score of 1.03 beat Centrica's score of 0.00 indicating that Centrica is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Severn Trent	Neutral
Centrica	Positive

Is SVT or CNA a better dividend stock?

Severn Trent pays an annual dividend of GBX 111 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.5%. Centrica pays an annual dividend of GBX 4 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Severn Trent pays out 26,428.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Centrica pays out 579.7% 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 more risk and volatility, SVT or CNA?

Severn Trent has a beta of 0.39, indicating that its stock price is 61% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Centrica has a beta of 1.1, indicating that its stock price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Centrica beats Severn Trent on 13 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.