ATO vs. NFG, CMS, CNP, EBR, FTS, AEE, NRG, VIV, PPL, and ES
Should you be buying Atmos Energy stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Atmos Energy include National Fuel Gas (NFG), CMS Energy (CMS), CenterPoint Energy (CNP), Centrais Elétricas Brasileiras S.A. - Eletrobrás (EBR), Fortis (FTS), Ameren (AEE), NRG Energy (NRG), Telefônica Brasil (VIV), PPL (PPL), and Eversource Energy (ES). These companies are all part of the "utilities" sector.
National Fuel Gas (NYSE:NFG) and Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) are both utilities companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, community ranking, media sentiment and valuation.
National Fuel Gas has a net margin of 23.84% compared to National Fuel Gas' net margin of 23.43%. Atmos Energy's return on equity of 15.06% beat National Fuel Gas' return on equity.
Atmos Energy received 22 more outperform votes than National Fuel Gas when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 65.78% of users gave National Fuel Gas an outperform vote while only 64.55% of users gave Atmos Energy an outperform vote.
74.0% of National Fuel Gas shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.2% of Atmos Energy shares are held by institutional investors. 1.6% of National Fuel Gas shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Atmos Energy shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
National Fuel Gas currently has a consensus price target of $61.25, indicating a potential upside of 9.87%. Atmos Energy has a consensus price target of $124.33, indicating a potential upside of 3.32%. Given Atmos Energy's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe National Fuel Gas is more favorable than Atmos Energy.
In the previous week, National Fuel Gas had 6 more articles in the media than Atmos Energy. MarketBeat recorded 14 mentions for National Fuel Gas and 8 mentions for Atmos Energy. National Fuel Gas' average media sentiment score of 1.19 beat Atmos Energy's score of 0.59 indicating that Atmos Energy is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
National Fuel Gas has a beta of 0.63, suggesting that its share price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Atmos Energy has a beta of 0.66, suggesting that its share price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Atmos Energy has higher revenue and earnings than National Fuel Gas. National Fuel Gas is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Atmos Energy, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
National Fuel Gas pays an annual dividend of $1.98 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Atmos Energy pays an annual dividend of $3.22 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. National Fuel Gas pays out 39.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Atmos Energy pays out 51.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. National Fuel Gas has raised its dividend for 54 consecutive years and Atmos Energy has raised its dividend for 40 consecutive years. National Fuel Gas is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
Summary
National Fuel Gas beats Atmos Energy on 11 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding ATO 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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