Contrasting Expand Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) and Ormat Technologies (NYSE:ORA)

Expand Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) and Ormat Technologies (NYSE:ORA) are both energy companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, earnings and valuation.

Volatility and Risk

Expand Energy has a beta of 0.33, meaning that its stock price is 67% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ormat Technologies has a beta of 0.85, meaning that its stock price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Expand Energy and Ormat Technologies”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Expand Energy	$12.12 billion	1.78	$1.82 billion	$13.41	6.74
Ormat Technologies	$989.54 million	8.45	$123.90 million	$2.06	66.08

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

Profitability

This table compares Expand Energy and Ormat Technologies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Expand Energy	22.53%	10.26%	6.73%
Ormat Technologies	10.97%	6.61%	2.80%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Expand Energy and Ormat Technologies, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Expand Energy	1	5	11	2	2.74
Ormat Technologies	0	5	8	0	2.62

Expand Energy presently has a consensus price target of $131.45, indicating a potential upside of 45.38%. Ormat Technologies has a consensus price target of $133.18, indicating a potential downside of 2.16%. Given Expand Energy’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Expand Energy is more favorable than Ormat Technologies.

Dividends

Expand Energy pays an annual dividend of $2.30 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Ormat Technologies pays an annual dividend of $0.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.4%. Expand Energy pays out 17.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ormat Technologies pays out 23.3% 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. Expand Energy is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

97.9% of Expand Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.5% of Ormat Technologies shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of Expand Energy shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Ormat Technologies shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Expand Energy beats Ormat Technologies on 13 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Expand Energy

Expand Energy Corporation is an independent natural gas producer principally in the United States. Expand Energy Corporation, formerly known as Chesapeake Energy Corporation, is based in OKLAHOMA CITY.

About Ormat Technologies

Ormat Technologies, Inc. engages in the geothermal and recovered energy power business in the United States, Indonesia, Kenya, Turkey, Chile, Guatemala, Guadeloupe, New Zealand, Honduras, and internationally. It operates in three segments: Electricity, Product, and Energy Storage. The Electricity segment develops, builds, owns, and operates geothermal, solar photovoltaic, and recovered energy-based power plants; and sells electricity. The Product segment designs, manufactures, and sells equipment for geothermal and recovered energy-based electricity generation; and provides services relating to the engineering, procurement, construction, operation, and maintenance of geothermal and recovered energy-based power plants. This segment serves contractors; and owners and operators of interstate natural gas pipelines, gas processing plants, and cement plants, as well as companies in other energy-intensive industrial processes. The Energy Storage segment offers battery energy storage systems and related services. Ormat Technologies, Inc. was founded in 1965 and is headquartered in Reno, Nevada.