Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) & Terrestrial Energy (NASDAQ:IMSR) Critical Comparison

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) and Terrestrial Energy (NASDAQ:IMSR) are both utilities companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, profitability, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Black Hills and Terrestrial Energy, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Black Hills	0	1	5	0	2.83
Terrestrial Energy	1	1	2	0	2.25

Black Hills presently has a consensus price target of $81.40, suggesting a potential upside of 12.00%. Terrestrial Energy has a consensus price target of $13.50, suggesting a potential upside of 78.81%. Given Terrestrial Energy’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Terrestrial Energy is more favorable than Black Hills.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Black Hills and Terrestrial Energy”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Black Hills	$2.31 billion	2.40	$291.60 million	$3.84	18.93
Terrestrial Energy	$250,000.00	3,199.09	-$28.02 million	($0.10)	-75.50

Black Hills has higher revenue and earnings than Terrestrial Energy. Terrestrial Energy is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Black Hills, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Black Hills and Terrestrial Energy’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Black Hills	12.61%	7.77%	2.86%
Terrestrial Energy	N/A	-23.24%	-11.93%

Volatility and Risk

Black Hills has a beta of 0.72, suggesting that its stock price is 28% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Terrestrial Energy has a beta of 2.08, suggesting that its stock price is 108% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

86.7% of Black Hills shares are held by institutional investors. 0.6% of Black Hills shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 28.6% of Terrestrial Energy shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Black Hills beats Terrestrial Energy on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Black Hills

Black Hills Corporation, through its subsidiaries, operates as an electric and natural gas utility company in the United States. The company operates in two segments: Electric Utilities and Gas Utilities. The Electric Utilities segment generates, transmits, and distributes electricity to approximately 222,000 electric utility customers in Colorado, Montana, South Dakota, and Wyoming; and owns and operates 1,394 megawatts of generation capacity and 9,106 miles of electric transmission and distribution lines. The Gas Utilities segment distributes natural gas to approximately 1,116,000 natural gas utility customers in Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, and Wyoming; owns and operates 4,663 miles of intrastate gas transmission pipelines; 42,514 miles of gas distribution mains and service lines; seven natural gas storage sites; and approximately 50,000 horsepower of compression and 516 miles of gathering lines. It also constructs and maintains customer owned gas infrastructure facilities for gas transportation customers; and provides appliance repair services to residential utility customers, as well as electrical system construction services to large industrial customers. In addition, the company produces electric power through wind, natural gas, and coal-fired generating plants; and coal at its coal mine located near Gillette, Wyoming. Black Hills Corporation was incorporated in 1941 and is headquartered in Rapid City, South Dakota.

About Terrestrial Energy

Terrestrial Energy Inc. produces carbon free nuclear energy in North Carolina and internationally. The company was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.