NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG – Get Free Report) and Alternus Clean Energy (OTCMKTS:ALCED – Get Free Report) are both utilities companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, profitability, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.
Profitability
This table compares NRG Energy and Alternus Clean 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% |
| Alternus Clean Energy | N/A | N/A | -40.51% |
Insider & Institutional Ownership
97.7% of NRG Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.4% of NRG Energy shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 44.1% of Alternus Clean Energy 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.
Earnings & Valuation
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| NRG Energy | $30.71 billion | 0.82 | $864.00 million | $3.78 | 31.77 |
| Alternus Clean Energy | $310,000.00 | 1.58 | $21.08 million | ($1,314.00) | -0.00 |
NRG Energy has higher revenue and earnings than Alternus Clean Energy. Alternus Clean Energy is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than NRG Energy, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Risk and Volatility
NRG Energy has a beta of 1.22, meaning that its share price is 22% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Alternus Clean Energy has a beta of -1.13, meaning that its share price is 213% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for NRG Energy and Alternus Clean Energy, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| NRG Energy | 0 | 4 | 10 | 1 | 2.80 |
| Alternus Clean Energy | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
NRG Energy presently has a consensus target price of $199.43, indicating a potential upside of 66.07%. Given NRG Energy’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe NRG Energy is more favorable than Alternus Clean Energy.
Summary
NRG Energy beats Alternus Clean Energy on 13 of the 15 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 Alternus Clean Energy
Alternus Clean Energy, Inc. operates as a power producer. It develops, installs, owns and operates utility scale solar parks in America and Europe. It operates through the United States and Europe geographical segments. The company was founded by Vincent Browne in 2017 and is headquartered in New York, NY.
Receive News & Ratings for NRG Energy Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for NRG Energy and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.
