Comparing CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) and Centuri (NYSE:CTRI)

Centuri (NYSE:CTRI) and CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) are both utilities companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation and risk.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

91.8% of CenterPoint Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of Centuri shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of CenterPoint Energy shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Centuri and CenterPoint Energy, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Centuri	2	1	2	0	2.00
CenterPoint Energy	0	8	6	0	2.43

Centuri presently has a consensus price target of $23.25, indicating a potential downside of 7.43%. CenterPoint Energy has a consensus price target of $41.64, indicating a potential upside of 8.76%. Given CenterPoint Energy’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe CenterPoint Energy is more favorable than Centuri.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Centuri and CenterPoint Energy”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Centuri	$2.64 billion	0.95	-$6.72 million	$0.03	837.20
CenterPoint Energy	$8.64 billion	2.89	$1.02 billion	$1.58	24.23

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

Profitability

This table compares Centuri and CenterPoint Energy’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Centuri	0.09%	6.37%	1.71%
CenterPoint Energy	11.37%	10.25%	2.52%

Volatility & Risk

Centuri has a beta of 0.95, meaning that its share price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CenterPoint Energy has a beta of 0.56, meaning that its share price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

CenterPoint Energy beats Centuri on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Centuri

Centuri Holdings, Inc. operates as a utility infrastructure services company in North America. It offers gas utility services, including maintenance, repair, installation, and replacement services for natural gas local distribution utility companies with focus on the modernization of infrastructure. The company also provides electric utility services comprising design, maintenance and repair, upgrade, and expansion services for transmission and distribution infrastructure. Its customers include electric, gas, and combination utility companies, as well as serves end markets, such as renewable energy and 5G datacom. The company was founded in 1909 and is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona. Centuri Holdings, Inc. is a subsidiary of Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc.

About CenterPoint Energy

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. operates as a public utility holding company in the United States. The company operates through two segments, Electric and Natural Gas. The Electric segment includes electric transmission and distribution services to electric customers and electric generation assets, as well as optimizes assets in the wholesale power market. The Natural Gas segment engages in the intrastate natural gas sales, and natural gas transportation and distribution for residential, commercial, industrial and institutional customers in Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Ohio, and Texas; permanent pipeline connections through interconnects with various interstate and intrastate pipeline companies; and provides maintenance and repair services of home appliances to customers in Minnesota and home repair protection plans to natural gas customers in Indiana, Mississippi, Ohio, and Texas through a third party. It serves approximately 2,534,730 metered customers; owned 348 substations with transformer capacity of 79,719 megavolt amperes; and owned and operated 217 miles of intrastate pipeline in Louisiana and Texas. The company was founded in 1866 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.