Head-To-Head Analysis: Unitil (NYSE:UTL) & Power Assets (OTCMKTS:HGKGY)

Unitil (NYSE:UTL) and Power Assets (OTCMKTS:HGKGY) are both utilities companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, earnings, dividends and profitability.

Dividends

Unitil pays an annual dividend of $1.90 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. Power Assets pays an annual dividend of $0.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.8%. Unitil pays out 60.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Unitil has increased its dividend for 12 consecutive years.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

76.8% of Unitil shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.2% of Unitil shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Power Assets shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

Unitil has a beta of 0.32, suggesting that its stock price is 68% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Power Assets has a beta of 0.3, suggesting that its stock price is 70% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Unitil and Power Assets, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Unitil	0	5	0	0	2.00
Power Assets	0	0	0	0	0.00

Unitil presently has a consensus price target of $56.50, indicating a potential upside of 15.63%. Given Unitil’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Unitil is more favorable than Power Assets.

Profitability

This table compares Unitil and Power Assets’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Unitil	9.60%	9.89%	2.89%
Power Assets	N/A	N/A	N/A

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Unitil and Power Assets”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Unitil	$536.00 million	1.64	$50.20 million	$3.16	15.46
Power Assets	$98.89 million	152.21	$800.08 million	N/A	N/A

Power Assets has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Unitil.

Summary

Unitil beats Power Assets on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Unitil

Unitil Corporation, a public utility holding company, engages in the distribution of electricity and natural gas. It operates through two segments, Utility Electric Operations, Utility Gas Operations. The company distributes electricity in the southeastern seacoast and state capital regions of New Hampshire, and the greater Fitchburg area of north central Massachusetts; and distributes natural gas in southeastern New Hampshire and portions of southern and central Maine, including the city of Portland and the Lewiston-Auburn area, as well as electricity and natural gas in the greater Fitchburg area of north central Massachusetts. It also operates 86 miles of interstate underground natural gas transmission pipeline that provides interstate natural gas pipeline access and transportation services primarily in Maine and New Hampshire. In addition, the company provides real estate management services. It serves approximately 108,100 electric customers and 87,500 natural gas customers. Unitil Corporation was incorporated in 1984 and is headquartered in Hampton, New Hampshire.

About Power Assets

Power Assets Holdings Limited, an investment holding company, engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity in Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, Australia, Mainland China, and internationally. It generates energy from thermal, renewable energy, and waste sources. The company also transmits and distributes oil and gas; and provides trust administration and management services. It has a generation capacity of 879 MW renewable energy/energy from waste, 5,262 MW gas fired, and 3,567 MW coal/oil fired; and operates 114,900 km of gas/oil pipeline, as well as 388,200 km of power network serving 19,790,000 customers. The company was formerly known as Hongkong Electric Holdings Limited and changed its name to Power Assets Holdings Limited in February 2011. Power Assets Holdings Limited was founded in 1889 and is based in Central, Hong Kong.