Critical Analysis: UNS Energy Corp (NYSE:UNS) vs. NRG Yield (NYLD)

UNS Energy Corp (NYSE: UNS) and NRG Yield (NYSE:NYLD) are both utilities companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, profitabiliy, dividends and earnings.

Profitability

This table compares UNS Energy Corp and NRG Yield’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
UNS Energy Corp	N/A	N/A	N/A
NRG Yield	5.00%	2.01%	0.59%

Dividends

NRG Yield pays an annual dividend of $1.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.8%. UNS Energy Corp does not pay a dividend. NRG Yield pays out 225.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

32.3% of NRG Yield shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of NRG Yield shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares UNS Energy Corp and NRG Yield’s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	EBITDA	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
UNS Energy Corp	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
NRG Yield	$1.01 billion	1.16	$755.00 million	$0.48	38.54

NRG Yield has higher revenue and earnings than UNS Energy Corp.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for UNS Energy Corp and NRG Yield, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
UNS Energy Corp	0	0	0	0	N/A
NRG Yield	0	5	4	0	2.44

NRG Yield has a consensus price target of $20.00, indicating a potential upside of 8.11%. Given NRG Yield’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe NRG Yield is more favorable than UNS Energy Corp.

Summary

NRG Yield beats UNS Energy Corp on 9 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About UNS Energy Corp

UNS Energy Corporation, formerly UniSource Energy Corporation, is a holding company. The Company owns the outstanding common stock of Tucson Electric Power Company (TEP), UniSource Energy Services, Inc. (UES), UniSource Energy Development Company (UED), and Millennium Energy Holdings, Inc. (Millennium). It operates in three segments: TEP, UNS Gas, Inc. (UNS Gas) and UNS Electric, Inc. (UNS Electric). TEP is an electric utility serving the community of Tucson, Arizona. UNS Gas is a gas distribution company serving approximately 148,000 retail customers in Mohave, Yavapai, Coconino, and Navajo counties in northern Arizona, as well as Santa Cruz County in southeastern Arizona. UNS Electric is a vertically integrated electric utility company serving approximately 91,000 retail customers in Mohave and Santa Cruz counties. In July 2011, UNS Electric purchased the Black Mountain Generating Station (BMGS) from UED.

About NRG Yield

NRG Yield, Inc. serves as the primary vehicle, through which NRG Energy, Inc. owns, operates and acquires contracted renewable and conventional generation and thermal infrastructure assets. It owns a diversified portfolio of contracted renewable and conventional generation and thermal infrastructure assets in the United States. Its contracted generation portfolio includes three natural gas or dual-fired facilities, eight utility-scale solar and wind generation facilities and two portfolios of distributed solar facilities that collectively represent 1,324 net megawatt. The Company also own thermal infrastructure assets with an aggregate steam and chilled water capacity of 1,098 net megawatt and electric generation capacity of 123 net megawatt. In July 2014, NRG Yield Inc completed its acquisition of three Right of First Offer (ROFO) assets from NRG Energy, Inc. In August 2014, it acquired Alta Wind facility located in Tehachapi, California from Terra-Gen Power LLC.