Comparing NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) & Capital Power (OTCMKTS:CPXWF)

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) and Capital Power (OTCMKTS:CPXWF) are both utilities companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and valuation.

Dividends

NRG Energy pays an annual dividend of $1.51 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. Capital Power pays an annual dividend of $1.29 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.3%. NRG Energy pays out -17.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Capital Power pays out 136.7% 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 4 consecutive years.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

97.7% of NRG Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 29.4% of Capital Power shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of NRG Energy shares are owned 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.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares NRG Energy and Capital Power’s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
NRG Energy	$31.54 billion	0.28	$1.22 billion	($8.84)	-4.35
Capital Power	N/A	N/A	N/A	$0.94	31.98

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

Profitability

This table compares NRG Energy and Capital Power’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
NRG Energy	-6.75%	25.82%	3.03%
Capital Power	N/A	N/A	N/A

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for NRG Energy and Capital Power, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
NRG Energy	1	2	1	0	2.00
Capital Power	0	0	0	0	N/A

NRG Energy presently has a consensus target price of $44.00, suggesting a potential upside of 14.43%. Capital Power has a consensus target price of $42.40, suggesting a potential upside of 41.00%. Given Capital Power’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Capital Power is more favorable than NRG Energy.

Summary

NRG Energy beats Capital Power on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About NRG Energy

NRG Energy, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated power company in the United States. It operates through Texas, East, and West segments. The company is involved in producing and selling electricity and related products and services to approximately residential, commercial, industrial, and wholesale customers. It generates electricity using natural gas, coal, oil, solar, nuclear, and battery storage. The company also provides system power, distributed generation, renewable products, backup generation, storage and distributed solar, demand response, and energy efficiency and advisory services, as well as carbon management and specialty services. In addition, it trades in electric power, natural gas, and related commodities; environmental products; weather products; and financial products, including forwards, futures, options, and swaps. Further, the company procures fuels; and sells energy, services, and products and services under the NRG, Reliant, Direct Energy, Green Mountain Energy, Stream, and XOOM Energy. NRG Energy, Inc. was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

About Capital Power

Capital Power Corporation develops, acquires, owns, and operates renewable and thermal power generation facilities in Canada and the United States. It generates electricity from various energy sources, including wind, solar, waste heat, natural gas, and coal. The company owns an approximately 7,500 megawatts of power generation capacity at 29 facilities. It also manages its related electricity, natural gas, and emissions portfolios by undertaking trading and marketing activities. Capital Power Corporation was founded in 1891 and is headquartered in Edmonton, Canada.