Comparing Brookfield Renewable (NYSE:BEPC) & Central Puerto (NYSE:CEPU)

Central Puerto (NYSE:CEPU) and Brookfield Renewable (NYSE:BEPC) are both mid-cap energy companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, profitability, valuation and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Central Puerto and Brookfield Renewable, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Central Puerto	0	1	1	0	2.50
Brookfield Renewable	1	1	3	0	2.40

Central Puerto presently has a consensus target price of $17.50, indicating a potential upside of 3.77%. Brookfield Renewable has a consensus target price of $39.75, indicating a potential upside of 4.56%. Given Brookfield Renewable’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Brookfield Renewable is more favorable than Central Puerto.

Risk and Volatility

Central Puerto has a beta of 1.06, suggesting that its share price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Brookfield Renewable has a beta of 1.23, suggesting that its share price is 23% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Central Puerto and Brookfield Renewable”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Central Puerto	$810.70 million	3.15	$54.56 million	$1.48	11.39
Brookfield Renewable	$5.88 billion	0.94	$236.00 million	($0.89)	-42.72

Brookfield Renewable has higher revenue and earnings than Central Puerto. Brookfield Renewable is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Central Puerto, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Central Puerto and Brookfield Renewable’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Central Puerto	28.24%	15.01%	10.43%
Brookfield Renewable	-34.58%	-12.74%	-3.20%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

3.0% of Central Puerto shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.1% of Brookfield Renewable shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.1% of Central Puerto shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Central Puerto beats Brookfield Renewable on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Central Puerto

Central Puerto S.A. engages in the electric power generation in Argentina. It operates through three segments: Electric Power Generation from Conventional Sources, Electric Power Generation from Renewable Sources, and Natural Gas Transport and Distribution. The company generates energy through thermal, hydroelectric, and wind farms. It also engages in the natural gas transport and distribution business. Central Puerto S.A. was founded in 1898 and is based in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

About Brookfield Renewable

Brookfield Renewable Corporation owns and operates a portfolio of renewable power and sustainable solution assets primarily in the United States, Europe, Colombia, and Brazil. It operates hydroelectric, wind, solar, and distributed energy and sustainable solutions with an installed capacity of approximately 19,161 megawatts. The company was incorporated in 2019 and is headquartered in New York, New York. Brookfield Renewable Corporation operates as a subsidiary of Brookfield BRP Holdings (Canada) Inc.