Contrasting Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) and Terrestrial Energy (NASDAQ:IMSR)

Terrestrial Energy (NASDAQ:IMSR) and Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) are both utilities companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Terrestrial Energy and Black Hills, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Terrestrial Energy	1	1	2	0	2.25
Black Hills	0	1	5	0	2.83

Terrestrial Energy currently has a consensus price target of $13.50, suggesting a potential upside of 78.81%. Black Hills has a consensus price target of $81.40, suggesting a potential upside of 12.00%. Given Terrestrial Energy’s higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Terrestrial Energy is more favorable than Black Hills.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Terrestrial Energy and Black Hills”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Terrestrial Energy	$250,000.00	3,199.09	-$28.02 million	($0.10)	-75.50
Black Hills	$2.31 billion	2.40	$291.60 million	$3.84	18.93

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

86.7% of Black Hills shares are held by institutional investors. 28.6% of Terrestrial Energy shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Black Hills shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Terrestrial Energy and Black Hills’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Terrestrial Energy	N/A	-23.24%	-11.93%
Black Hills	12.61%	7.77%	2.86%

Volatility and Risk

Terrestrial Energy has a beta of 2.07, indicating that its stock price is 107% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Black Hills has a beta of 0.72, indicating that its stock price is 28% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Black Hills beats Terrestrial Energy on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Terrestrial Energy

Terrestrial Energy Inc. produces carbon free nuclear energy in North Carolina and internationally. The company was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.

About Black Hills

Black Hills Corporation, through its subsidiaries, operates as an electric and natural gas utility company in the United States. The company operates in two segments: Electric Utilities and Gas Utilities. The Electric Utilities segment generates, transmits, and distributes electricity to approximately 222,000 electric utility customers in Colorado, Montana, South Dakota, and Wyoming; and owns and operates 1,394 megawatts of generation capacity and 9,106 miles of electric transmission and distribution lines. The Gas Utilities segment distributes natural gas to approximately 1,116,000 natural gas utility customers in Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, and Wyoming; owns and operates 4,663 miles of intrastate gas transmission pipelines; 42,514 miles of gas distribution mains and service lines; seven natural gas storage sites; and approximately 50,000 horsepower of compression and 516 miles of gathering lines. It also constructs and maintains customer owned gas infrastructure facilities for gas transportation customers; and provides appliance repair services to residential utility customers, as well as electrical system construction services to large industrial customers. In addition, the company produces electric power through wind, natural gas, and coal-fired generating plants; and coal at its coal mine located near Gillette, Wyoming. Black Hills Corporation was incorporated in 1941 and is headquartered in Rapid City, South Dakota.