UGI vs. SWX, MDU, NFG, IDA, BEP, POR, NJR, AQN, ENIC, and BIPC
Should you be buying UGI stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of UGI include Southwest Gas (SWX), MDU Resources Group (MDU), National Fuel Gas (NFG), IDACORP (IDA), Brookfield Renewable Partners (BEP), Portland General Electric (POR), New Jersey Resources (NJR), Algonquin Power & Utilities (AQN), Enel Chile (ENIC), and Brookfield Infrastructure (BIPC). These companies are all part of the "utilities" sector.
Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) and UGI (NYSE:UGI) are both mid-cap utilities companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation, media sentiment, community ranking, risk, institutional ownership and earnings.
Southwest Gas received 55 more outperform votes than UGI when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 53.77% of users gave UGI an outperform vote while only 51.59% of users gave Southwest Gas an outperform vote.
Southwest Gas has higher earnings, but lower revenue than UGI. UGI is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Southwest Gas, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Southwest Gas has a beta of 0.36, indicating that its share price is 64% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, UGI has a beta of 1.13, indicating that its share price is 13% more volatile than the S&P 500.
In the previous week, UGI had 22 more articles in the media than Southwest Gas. MarketBeat recorded 30 mentions for UGI and 8 mentions for Southwest Gas. UGI's average media sentiment score of 0.94 beat Southwest Gas' score of 0.44 indicating that Southwest Gas is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Southwest Gas currently has a consensus target price of $73.00, indicating a potential downside of 2.84%. UGI has a consensus target price of $27.00, indicating a potential upside of 11.11%. Given Southwest Gas' higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe UGI is more favorable than Southwest Gas.
92.8% of Southwest Gas shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 82.3% of UGI shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of Southwest Gas shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of UGI shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Southwest Gas pays an annual dividend of $2.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. UGI pays an annual dividend of $1.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.2%. Southwest Gas pays out 117.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. UGI pays out -365.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. UGI has raised its dividend for 36 consecutive years. UGI is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
Southwest Gas has a net margin of 2.78% compared to Southwest Gas' net margin of -0.89%. Southwest Gas' return on equity of 16.18% beat UGI's return on equity.
Summary
UGI beats Southwest Gas on 11 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding UGI and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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