Critical Review: Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel (ELPC) & Its Peers

Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel (NYSE:ELPC) is one of 105 publicly-traded companies in the “Electric Utilities” industry, but how does it contrast to its rivals? We will compare Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel to related companies based on the strength of its valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, risk and earnings.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel and its rivals revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel	$4.68 billion	N/A	14.69
Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel Competitors	$14.11 billion	$1.54 billion	20.02

Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel’s rivals have higher revenue and earnings than Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel. Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Profitability

This table compares Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel	N/A	N/A	N/A
Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel Competitors	14.13%	9.68%	3.20%

Dividends

Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.8%. Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel pays out 85.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. As a group, “Electric Utilities” companies pay a dividend yield of 3.2% and pay out 64.5% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel and its rivals, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel	0	1	1	2	3.25
Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel Competitors	1429	6549	5527	145	2.32

Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel presently has a consensus target price of $10.40, indicating a potential upside of 1.12%. As a group, “Electric Utilities” companies have a potential upside of 5.56%. Given Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel’s rivals higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel has less favorable growth aspects than its rivals.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

60.0% of shares of all “Electric Utilities” companies are held by institutional investors. 6.2% of shares of all “Electric Utilities” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel rivals beat Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel on 10 of the 13 factors compared.

About Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel

Companhia Paranaense de Energia – COPEL engages in the generation, transformation, distribution, and sale of electricity to industrial, residential, commercial, rural, and other customers in Brazil. The company operates through Power Generation and Transmission, Power Distribution, GAS, Power Sale, and Holding and Services segments. It is also involved in the piped natural gas distribution. The company operates hydroelectric, wind, and thermoelectric plants; and owns and operates transmission and distribution lines. It holds concessions to distribute electricity in municipalities in the State of Paraná and in the municipality of Porto União in the State of Santa Catarina. Companhia Paranaense de Energia COPEL was founded in 1954 and is headquartered in Curitiba, Brazil.