Critical Comparison: Entergy (NYSE:ETR) vs. Clearway Energy (NYSE:CWEN.A)

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) and Clearway Energy (NYSE:CWEN.A) are both utilities companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk and valuation.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Entergy and Clearway Energy, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Entergy	1	2	7	0	2.60
Clearway Energy	0	0	0	0	N/A

Entergy currently has a consensus target price of $110.60, suggesting a potential upside of 6.11%. Given Entergy’s higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Entergy is more favorable than Clearway Energy.

Profitability

This table compares Entergy and Clearway Energy’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Entergy	19.41%	10.54%	2.41%
Clearway Energy	N/A	N/A	N/A

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Entergy and Clearway Energy’s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Entergy	$12.15 billion	1.83	$2.36 billion	$11.09	9.40
Clearway Energy	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Entergy has higher revenue and earnings than Clearway Energy.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

88.1% of Entergy shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of Entergy shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Entergy beats Clearway Energy on 8 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Entergy

Entergy Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the production and retail distribution of electricity in the United States. It generates, transmits, distributes, and sells electric power in portions of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, including the City of New Orleans; and distributes natural gas. It also engages in the ownership of interests in non-nuclear power plants that sell electric power to wholesale customers, as well as provides decommissioning services to other nuclear power plant owners. It generates electricity through gas, nuclear, coal, hydro, and solar power sources. The company sells energy to retail power providers, utilities, electric power co-operatives, power trading organizations, and other power generation companies. The company's power plants have approximately 24,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity. It delivers electricity to 3 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. Entergy Corporation was founded in 1913 and is headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana.

About Clearway Energy

Clearway Energy, Inc., through its subsidiaries, acquires, owns, and operates contracted renewable energy and conventional generation, and thermal infrastructure assets in the United States. As of December 31, 2018, it had contracted generation portfolio of 5,272 net megawatts (MWs) of wind, solar, and natural gas-fired power generation facilities, as well as district energy systems. The company also owns thermal infrastructure assets with an aggregate steam and chilled water capacity of 1,385 net MW thermal equivalents; and electric generation capacity of 133 net MWs. Its thermal infrastructure assets provide steam, hot water and/or chilled water, and electricity to commercial businesses, universities, hospitals, and governmental units. The company was founded in 2012 and is based in Princeton, New Jersey. Clearway Energy, Inc. is a subsidiary of Clearway Energy Group LLC.