CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) versus Unitil (NYSE:UTL) Head to Head Review

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) and Unitil (NYSE:UTL) are both utilities companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, valuation, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings and dividends.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares CenterPoint Energy and Unitil”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CenterPoint Energy	$9.36 billion	2.76	$1.05 billion	$1.70	23.08
Unitil	$536.00 million	1.81	$50.20 million	$3.17	16.81

CenterPoint Energy has higher revenue and earnings than Unitil. Unitil is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than CenterPoint Energy, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for CenterPoint Energy and Unitil, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CenterPoint Energy	0	8	9	0	2.53
Unitil	0	4	1	0	2.20

CenterPoint Energy presently has a consensus target price of $45.36, suggesting a potential upside of 15.59%. Unitil has a consensus target price of $56.50, suggesting a potential upside of 6.00%. Given CenterPoint Energy’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe CenterPoint Energy is more favorable than Unitil.

Dividends

CenterPoint Energy pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Unitil pays an annual dividend of $1.90 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. CenterPoint Energy pays out 56.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Unitil pays out 59.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. CenterPoint Energy has raised its dividend for 5 consecutive years and Unitil has raised its dividend for 12 consecutive years. Unitil is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Volatility & Risk

CenterPoint Energy has a beta of 0.46, meaning that its share price is 54% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Unitil has a beta of 0.31, meaning that its share price is 69% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

91.8% of CenterPoint Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 76.8% of Unitil shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of CenterPoint Energy shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.2% of Unitil shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares CenterPoint Energy and Unitil’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CenterPoint Energy	11.61%	11.10%	2.68%
Unitil	9.49%	9.53%	2.80%

Summary

CenterPoint Energy beats Unitil on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About CenterPoint Energy

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. operates as a public utility holding company in the United States. The company operates through two segments, Electric and Natural Gas. The Electric segment includes electric transmission and distribution services to electric customers and electric generation assets, as well as optimizes assets in the wholesale power market. The Natural Gas segment engages in the intrastate natural gas sales, and natural gas transportation and distribution for residential, commercial, industrial and institutional customers in Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Ohio, and Texas; permanent pipeline connections through interconnects with various interstate and intrastate pipeline companies; and provides maintenance and repair services of home appliances to customers in Minnesota and home repair protection plans to natural gas customers in Indiana, Mississippi, Ohio, and Texas through a third party. It serves approximately 2,534,730 metered customers; owned 348 substations with transformer capacity of 79,719 megavolt amperes; and owned and operated 217 miles of intrastate pipeline in Louisiana and Texas. The company was founded in 1866 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

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.