Reviewing NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) and Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel (NYSE:ELPC)

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) and Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel (NYSE:ELPC) are both utilities companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, valuation, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

97.7% of NRG Energy shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of NRG Energy shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

NRG Energy pays an annual dividend of $1.90 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel pays an annual dividend of $0.58 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.1%. NRG Energy pays out 223.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel pays out 101.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. NRG Energy has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for NRG Energy and Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
NRG Energy	0	4	10	1	2.80
Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel	0	2	1	1	2.75

NRG Energy presently has a consensus target price of $199.69, indicating a potential upside of 47.78%. Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel has a consensus target price of $10.40, indicating a potential downside of 8.02%. Given NRG Energy’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe NRG Energy is more favorable than Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel.

Profitability

This table compares NRG Energy and Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
NRG Energy	0.74%	70.67%	4.95%
Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel	N/A	N/A	N/A

Volatility and Risk

NRG Energy has a beta of 1.25, suggesting that its share price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel has a beta of -0.07, suggesting that its share price is 107% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares NRG Energy and Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
NRG Energy	$30.71 billion	0.93	$864.00 million	$0.85	158.98
Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel	$4.68 billion	1.80	$424.24 million	$0.57	19.84

NRG Energy has higher revenue and earnings than Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel. Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than NRG Energy, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

NRG Energy beats Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel on 14 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About NRG Energy

NRG Energy, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy and home services company in the United States and Canada. It operates through Texas; East; West/Services/Other; Vivint Smart Home; and Corporate Activities segments. The company produces and sells electricity generated using coal, oil, solar, and battery storage; natural gas; and a cloud-based home platform, including hardware, software, sales, installation, customer service, technical support, and professional monitoring solutions. It offers retail electricity and energy management, line and surge protection products, HVAC installation, repair and maintenance, home protection products, carbon offsets, back-up power stations, portable power, portable solar, and portable lighting; retail services comprising demand response, commodity sales, energy efficiency, and energy management solutions; and system power, distributed generation, renewable and low-carbon products, carbon management and specialty services, backup generation, storage and distributed solar, and energy advisory services. In addition, the company trades in power, natural gas, and related commodities; environmental products; weather products; and financial products, including forwards, futures, options, and swaps. It offers its products and services under the NRG, Reliant, Direct Energy, Green Mountain Energy, and Vivint. It serves residential, commercial, government, industrial, and wholesale customers. NRG Energy, Inc. was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

About Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel

Companhia Paranaense de Energia – COPEL engages in the generation, transformation, distribution, and sale of electricity to industrial, residential, commercial, rural, and other customers in Brazil. The company operates through Power Generation and Transmission, Power Distribution, GAS, Power Sale, and Holding and Services segments. It is also involved in the piped natural gas distribution. The company operates hydroelectric, wind, and thermoelectric plants; and owns and operates transmission and distribution lines. It holds concessions to distribute electricity in municipalities in the State of Paraná and in the municipality of Porto União in the State of Santa Catarina. Companhia Paranaense de Energia COPEL was founded in 1954 and is headquartered in Curitiba, Brazil.