Head-To-Head Review: Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel (NYSE:ELPC) versus NiSource (NYSE:NI)

Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel (NYSE:ELPC) and NiSource (NYSE:NI) are both utilities companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership, risk, dividends and valuation.

Volatility and Risk

Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel has a beta of 0.06, meaning that its share price is 94% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NiSource has a beta of 0.57, meaning that its share price is 43% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings for Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel and NiSource, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel	0	2	1	1	2.75
NiSource	0	3	8	1	2.83

Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel currently has a consensus price target of $10.40, indicating a potential downside of 17.78%. NiSource has a consensus price target of $48.80, indicating a potential upside of 1.37%. Given NiSource’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe NiSource is more favorable than Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel and NiSource”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel	$4.68 billion	2.01	$409.35 million	$0.55	23.00
NiSource	$6.64 billion	3.47	$929.50 million	$1.95	24.69

NiSource has higher revenue and earnings than Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel. Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than NiSource, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

91.6% of NiSource shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of NiSource shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel pays an annual dividend of $0.46 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. NiSource pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel pays out 83.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. NiSource pays out 61.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. NiSource has raised its dividend for 14 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel and NiSource’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel	N/A	N/A	N/A
NiSource	13.99%	8.07%	2.64%

Summary

NiSource beats Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel on 16 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel

Companhia Paranaense de Energia – COPEL engages in the generation, transformation, distribution, and sale of electricity to industrial, residential, commercial, rural, and other customers in Brazil. The company operates through Power Generation and Transmission, Power Distribution, GAS, Power Sale, and Holding and Services segments. It is also involved in the piped natural gas distribution. The company operates hydroelectric, wind, and thermoelectric plants; and owns and operates transmission and distribution lines. It holds concessions to distribute electricity in municipalities in the State of Paraná and in the municipality of Porto União in the State of Santa Catarina. Companhia Paranaense de Energia COPEL was founded in 1954 and is headquartered in Curitiba, Brazil.

About NiSource

NiSource Inc., an energy holding company, operates as a regulated natural gas and electric utility company in the United States. It operates in two segments, Gas Distribution Operations and Electric Operations. The company distributes natural gas to approximately 3.3 million customers through approximately 55,000 miles of distribution main pipeline and the associated individual customer service lines; and 1,000 miles of transmission main pipeline in northern Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Kentucky, and Maryland. It also generates, transmits, and distributes electricity to approximately 0.5 million customers in various counties in the northern part of Indiana, as well as engages in wholesale electric and transmission transactions. It owns and operates coal-fired electric generating stations in Wheatfield and Michigan City; combined cycle gas turbine in West Terre Haute; natural gas generating units in Wheatfield; hydro generating plants in Carroll County and White County; wind generating units in White County, Indiana; and solar generating units in Jasper County and White County. The company was formerly known as NIPSCO Industries, Inc. and changed its name to NiSource Inc. in April 1999. NiSource Inc. was founded in 1847 and is headquartered in Merrillville, Indiana.