Contrasting Wec Acquisition Corp (TEG) & NiSource (NI)

Wec Acquisition Corp (NYSE: TEG) and NiSource (NYSE:NI) are both utilities companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, institutional ownership and profitabiliy.

Profitability

This table compares Wec Acquisition Corp and NiSource’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Wec Acquisition Corp	11.28%	15.70%	4.69%
NiSource	5.96%	9.17%	2.00%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Wec Acquisition Corp and NiSource’s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	EBITDA	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Wec Acquisition Corp	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
NiSource	$4.65 billion	1.84	$1.41 billion	$0.86	30.70

NiSource has higher revenue and earnings than Wec Acquisition Corp.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings for Wec Acquisition Corp and NiSource, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Wec Acquisition Corp	0	0	0	0	N/A
NiSource	1	5	5	0	2.36

NiSource has a consensus target price of $25.17, indicating a potential downside of 4.67%. Given NiSource’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe NiSource is more favorable than Wec Acquisition Corp.

Dividends

NiSource pays an annual dividend of $0.70 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Wec Acquisition Corp does not pay a dividend. NiSource pays out 81.4% 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

82.5% of NiSource shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of NiSource shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

NiSource beats Wec Acquisition Corp on 6 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Wec Acquisition Corp

Integrys Energy Group, Inc. is an energy holding company, which provides regulated natural gas and electricity, non-regulated renewable energy, and compressed natural gas products and services. The Company operates through four segments: natural gas utility, electric utility, electric transmission investment, and holding company and other. The natural gas utility segment includes the operations of Minnesota Energy Resources Corporation, Michigan Gas Utilities Corporation, North Shore Gas Company, The Peoples Gas Light and Coke Company and Wisconsin Public Service Corporation (WPS). The electric utility segment includes the electric utility operations of WPS. The electric transmission investment segment includes its 34% interest in American Transmission Company LLC. The holding company and other segment include the operations of the Integrys Energy Group holding company, Integrys Transportation Fuels, LLC, WPS Power Development LLC and the Peoples Energy, LLC holding company.

About NiSource

NiSource Inc. is an energy holding company. The Company is engaged in the distribution of natural gas. The Company operates through two business segments: Gas Distribution Operations and Electric Operations. The Company’s Gas Distribution Operations segment provides natural gas service and transportation for residential, commercial and industrial customers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Kentucky, Maryland, Indiana and Massachusetts. As of December 31, 2016, the Company’s Electric Operations segment provided electric services in 20 counties in the northern part of Indiana. The Company’s electric operations segment generated, transmitted and distributed electricity through the Company’s subsidiary NIPSCO to approximately 466,000 customers in 20 counties in the northern part of Indiana and engaged in wholesale and transmission transactions, as of December 31, 2016. NIPSCO owned and operated three coal-fired electric generating stations, as of December 31, 2016.