Atlantic Power Corporation (NYSE: AT) and Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR) are both utilities companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, dividends, profitabiliy, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings and analyst recommendations.
Analyst Ratings
This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Atlantic Power Corporation and Portland General Electric, as provided by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Atlantic Power Corporation | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2.00 |
| Portland General Electric | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.33 |
Atlantic Power Corporation presently has a consensus price target of $2.63, indicating a potential upside of 9.38%. Portland General Electric has a consensus price target of $42.00, indicating a potential downside of 9.37%. Given Atlantic Power Corporation’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Atlantic Power Corporation is more favorable than Portland General Electric.
Profitability
This table compares Atlantic Power Corporation and Portland General Electric’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Atlantic Power Corporation | -25.71% | 27.03% | 1.21% |
| Portland General Electric | 10.06% | 8.48% | 2.64% |
Volatility & Risk
Atlantic Power Corporation has a beta of 1.74, suggesting that its share price is 74% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Portland General Electric has a beta of 0.29, suggesting that its share price is 71% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares Atlantic Power Corporation and Portland General Electric’s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | EBITDA | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Atlantic Power Corporation | $391.20 million | 0.71 | $152.70 million | ($0.96) | -2.50 |
| Portland General Electric | $1.99 billion | 2.07 | $687.00 million | $2.24 | 20.69 |
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.
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 60.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Atlantic Power Corporation has increased its dividend for 11 consecutive years.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
46.4% of Atlantic Power Corporation shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.3% of Portland General Electric shares are held by institutional investors. 1.6% of Atlantic Power Corporation shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Portland General Electric shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Atlantic Power Corporation Company Profile
Alltel Corporation provides telecommunication services such as wire line local, long-distance, network access and internet services, wireless communications and wide-area paging services. The Company also wholesales telecommunications equipment and publishes telephone directories.
Portland General Electric Company Profile
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.
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