NorthWestern (NYSE:NWE – Get Rating) and COMPANHIA ENERG/S (NYSE:CIG.C – Get Rating) are both utilities companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends and risk.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares NorthWestern and COMPANHIA ENERG/S's revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

NorthWestern has higher earnings, but lower revenue than COMPANHIA ENERG/S. COMPANHIA ENERG/S is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than NorthWestern, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

96.6% of NorthWestern shares are held by institutional investors. 1.2% of NorthWestern shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares NorthWestern and COMPANHIA ENERG/S's net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for NorthWestern and COMPANHIA ENERG/S, as provided by MarketBeat.

Dividends

NorthWestern pays an annual dividend of $2.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.2%. COMPANHIA ENERG/S pays an annual dividend of $0.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. NorthWestern pays out 78.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. COMPANHIA ENERG/S pays out 3.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. NorthWestern has raised its dividend for 19 consecutive years. NorthWestern is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

NorthWestern beats COMPANHIA ENERG/S on 6 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

About NorthWestern

(Get Rating)

NorthWestern Corp. engages in generating and distributing electricity and natural gas. It operates through the following segments: Electric, Gas, and Other. The Electric segment includes generation, transmission, and distribution of electric utility business as a vertically integrated generation transmission and distribution utility. The Gas segment comprises production, storage, transmission, and distribution of natural gas. The Other segment consists of unallocated corporate costs. The company was founded in November 1923 and is headquartered in Sioux Falls, SD.

About COMPANHIA ENERG/S

(Get Rating)

Companhia Energética de Minas Gerais, through its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity in Brazil. As of December 31, 2017, the company operated 117 hydroelectric, thermoelectric, and wind plants with an installed capacity of 5.7 GW; 38 substations and 4,927 km of transmission lines; and 529,873 km of distribution networks and 17,301 km of distribution lines. It is also involved in the natural gas distribution; sale and trading of electricity; energy and technological solutions businesses; provision of telecommunications and data center service activities; and operation of solar energy plants. The company was founded in 1952 and is headquartered in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

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