Portland General Electric (NYSE: POR) and Atlantic Power Corporation (NYSE:AT) are both utilities companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitabiliy, earnings, dividends and risk.
Dividends
Portland General Electric pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Atlantic Power Corporation does not pay a dividend. Portland General Electric pays out 59.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Portland General Electric has raised its dividend for 11 consecutive years.
Risk & Volatility
Portland General Electric has a beta of 0.3, suggesting that its share price is 70% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Atlantic Power Corporation has a beta of 1.75, suggesting that its share price is 75% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares Portland General Electric and Atlantic Power Corporation’s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | EBITDA | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Portland General Electric | $1.97 billion | 2.10 | $680.00 million | $2.30 | 20.15 |
| Atlantic Power Corporation | $391.20 million | 0.69 | $152.70 million | ($0.92) | -2.55 |
Portland General Electric has higher revenue and earnings than Atlantic Power Corporation. Atlantic Power Corporation is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Portland General Electric, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of current ratings for Portland General Electric and Atlantic Power Corporation, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Portland General Electric | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1.50 |
| Atlantic Power Corporation | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2.00 |
Portland General Electric currently has a consensus price target of $43.00, suggesting a potential downside of 7.23%. Atlantic Power Corporation has a consensus price target of $2.63, suggesting a potential upside of 11.70%. Given Atlantic Power Corporation’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Atlantic Power Corporation is more favorable than Portland General Electric.
Profitability
This table compares Portland General Electric and Atlantic Power Corporation’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Portland General Electric | 10.43% | 8.78% | 2.73% |
| Atlantic Power Corporation | -26.51% | -17.90% | -1.19% |
Insider & Institutional Ownership
95.2% of Portland General Electric shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 46.4% of Atlantic Power Corporation shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of Portland General Electric shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.6% of Atlantic Power Corporation shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Summary
Portland General Electric beats Atlantic Power Corporation on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Portland General Electric
Portland General Electric Company is an electric utility that is engaged in the wholesale purchase, transmission, distribution and retail sale of electricity in the State of Oregon. Its service area allocation of approximately 4,000 square miles is located entirely within Oregon and includes approximately 51 incorporated cities, of which Portland and Salem. It has five natural gas-fired generating facilities, which include Port Westward Unit 1 (PW1), Port Westward Unit 2 (PW2), Beaver natural gas-fired generating plant (Beaver), Coyote Springs Unit 1 (Coyote Springs) and Carty natural gas-fired generating plant (Carty). As of December 31, 2016, the Company owned and operated two wind farms, Biglow Canyon Wind Farm (Biglow Canyon) and Tucannon River Wind Farm (Tucannon River). The Company’s hydroelectric projects consist of Pelton/Round Butte on the Deschutes River near Madras, Oregon, four plants on the Clackamas River, and one on the Willamette River.
About Atlantic Power Corporation
Atlantic Power Corporation (Atlantic Power) owns and operates a fleet of power generation assets in the United States and Canada. The Company’s power generation projects sell electricity to utilities and other commercial customers. Atlantic Power’s segments include East U.S., West U.S. and Canada. The Company’s East U.S. segment comprises natural gas, biomass, coal and hydro projects. The Company’s projects under the West U.S. segment include Naval Station, Naval Training Center, North Island, Oxnard, Manchief and Frederickson, which are focused on natural gas, and Koma Kulshan, which is focused on hydro. Under the Canada segment, the Company’s projects located in British Columbia include Mamquam, Mamquam and Williams Lake. Its Calstock and Tunis projects are located in Ontario. The Company’s portfolio consisted of interests in 19 operational power generation projects across nine states in the United States and two provinces in Canada, as of December 31, 2016.
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