Financial Review: Vistra (NYSE:VST) vs. Northland Power (OTCMKTS:NPIFF)

Vistra (NYSE:VST) and Northland Power (OTCMKTS:NPIFF) are both utilities companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, risk, valuation, earnings and institutional ownership.

Volatility & Risk

Vistra has a beta of 1.41, meaning that its stock price is 41% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Northland Power has a beta of 0.17, meaning that its stock price is 83% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Vistra and Northland Power’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Vistra	11.52%	105.64%	7.22%
Northland Power	-5.63%	10.77%	3.47%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Vistra and Northland Power”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Vistra	$17.74 billion	2.68	$944.00 million	$5.97	23.61
Northland Power	$1.74 billion	2.25	-$116.84 million	($0.42)	-35.67

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

Dividends

Vistra pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Northland Power pays an annual dividend of $0.51 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. Vistra pays out 15.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Northland Power pays out -121.4% 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. Vistra has raised its dividend for 6 consecutive years. Northland Power is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Vistra and Northland Power, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Vistra	0	1	13	3	3.12
Northland Power	0	4	3	0	2.43

Vistra currently has a consensus price target of $229.88, indicating a potential upside of 63.09%. Given Vistra’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Vistra is more favorable than Northland Power.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

90.9% of Vistra shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of Vistra shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Vistra beats Northland Power on 16 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Vistra

Vistra Corp., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated retail electricity and power generation company. The company operates through six segments: Retail, Texas, East, West, Sunset, and Asset Closure. It retails electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial, and industrial customers across states in the United States and the District of Columbia. In addition, the company is involved in the electricity generation, wholesale energy purchases and sales, commodity risk management, fuel production, and fuel logistics management activities. It serves approximately 4 million customers with a generation capacity of approximately 37,000 megawatts with a portfolio of natural gas, nuclear, coal, solar, and battery energy storage facilities. The company was formerly known as Vistra Energy Corp. and changed its name to Vistra Corp. in July 2020. Vistra Corp. was founded in 1882 and is based in Irving, Texas.

About Northland Power

Northland Power Inc., an independent power producer, develops, builds, owns, and operates clean and green power projects in Canada, Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Colombia, and internationally. The company produces electricity from renewable resources, such as wind and solar, as well as natural gas for sale under power purchase agreements and other revenue arrangements. It owned or had an economic interest 3.4 gigawatts of operating generating capacity. The company was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.