Reviewing NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) and Hallador Energy (NASDAQ:HNRG)

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) and Hallador Energy (NASDAQ:HNRG) are both utilities companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, risk, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for NRG Energy and Hallador Energy, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
NRG Energy	0	4	11	2	2.88
Hallador Energy	2	0	2	2	2.67

NRG Energy currently has a consensus target price of $173.56, suggesting a potential upside of 79.21%. Hallador Energy has a consensus target price of $24.88, suggesting a potential upside of 122.32%. Given Hallador Energy’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Hallador Energy is more favorable than NRG Energy.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares NRG Energy and Hallador Energy”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
NRG Energy	$30.71 billion	0.67	$864.00 million	$3.78	25.62
Hallador Energy	$469.47 million	1.12	$41.87 million	$0.02	559.45

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

Profitability

This table compares NRG Energy and Hallador Energy’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
NRG Energy	2.56%	52.95%	4.29%
Hallador Energy	-0.20%	-0.52%	-0.21%

Volatility and Risk

NRG Energy has a beta of 1.17, meaning that its share price is 17% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hallador Energy has a beta of 0.45, meaning that its share price is 55% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

97.7% of NRG Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 61.4% of Hallador Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.4% of NRG Energy shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 17.4% of Hallador Energy shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

NRG Energy beats Hallador Energy on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About NRG Energy

NRG Energy, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy and home services company in the United States and Canada. It operates through Texas; East; West/Services/Other; Vivint Smart Home; and Corporate Activities segments. The company produces and sells electricity generated using coal, oil, solar, and battery storage; natural gas; and a cloud-based home platform, including hardware, software, sales, installation, customer service, technical support, and professional monitoring solutions. It offers retail electricity and energy management, line and surge protection products, HVAC installation, repair and maintenance, home protection products, carbon offsets, back-up power stations, portable power, portable solar, and portable lighting; retail services comprising demand response, commodity sales, energy efficiency, and energy management solutions; and system power, distributed generation, renewable and low-carbon products, carbon management and specialty services, backup generation, storage and distributed solar, and energy advisory services. In addition, the company trades in power, natural gas, and related commodities; environmental products; weather products; and financial products, including forwards, futures, options, and swaps. It offers its products and services under the NRG, Reliant, Direct Energy, Green Mountain Energy, and Vivint. It serves residential, commercial, government, industrial, and wholesale customers. NRG Energy, Inc. was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

About Hallador Energy

Hallador Energy Company, through its subsidiaries, engages in the production of steam coal in the State of Indiana for the electric power generation industry. The company owns the Oaktown Mine 1 and Oaktown Mine 2 underground mines in Oaktown; Freelandville Center Pit surface mine in Freelandville; and Prosperity Surface mine in Petersburg, Indiana. It is also involved in gas exploration activities in Indiana; and operation of logistics transport facility. Hallador Energy Company was founded in 1949 and is headquartered in Terre Haute, Indiana.