Spruce Power (NYSE:SPRU) and Fortis (NYSE:FTS) Head to Head Analysis

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) and Spruce Power (NYSE:SPRU) are both utilities companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, risk and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Fortis and Spruce Power, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Fortis	3	0	0	0	1.00
Spruce Power	0	0	0	0	N/A

Profitability

This table compares Fortis and Spruce Power’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Fortis	13.90%	7.04%	2.34%
Spruce Power	-76.20%	-10.61%	-2.61%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

57.8% of Fortis shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 20.8% of Spruce Power shares are held by institutional investors. 9.6% of Spruce Power shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Fortis and Spruce Power”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Fortis	$11.39 billion	1.98	$1.17 billion	$2.32	19.63
Spruce Power	$79.86 million	0.66	-$65.83 million	($2.68)	-1.07

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

Volatility & Risk

Fortis has a beta of 0.47, suggesting that its stock price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Spruce Power has a beta of 1.2, suggesting that its stock price is 20% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Fortis beats Spruce Power on 9 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Fortis

Fortis Inc. operates as an electric and gas utility company in Canada, the United States, and the Caribbean countries. It generates, transmits, and distributes electricity to approximately 447,000 retail customers in southeastern Arizona; and 103,000 retail customers in Arizona's Mohave and Santa Cruz counties with an aggregate capacity of 3,408 megawatts (MW), including 68 MW of solar capacity and 250 MV of wind capacity. The company also sells wholesale electricity to other entities in the western United States; owns gas-fired and hydroelectric generating capacity totaling 65 MW; and distributes natural gas to approximately 1,087,000 residential, commercial, and industrial customers in British Columbia, Canada. In addition, it owns and operates the electricity distribution system that serves approximately 592,000 customers in southern and central Alberta; owns four hydroelectric generating facilities with a combined capacity of 225 MW; and provides operation, maintenance, and management services to five hydroelectric generating facilities. Further, the company distributes electricity in the island portion of Newfoundland and Labrador with an installed generating capacity of 145 MW; and on Prince Edward Island with a generating capacity of 90 MW. Additionally, it provides integrated electric utility service to approximately 69,000 customers in Ontario; approximately 275,000 customers in Newfoundland and Labrador; approximately 34,000 customers on Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands; and approximately 17,000 customers on certain islands in Turks and Caicos. It also holds long-term contracted generation assets in Belize consisting of 3 hydroelectric generating facilities with a combined capacity of 51 MW; and the Aitken Creek natural gas storage facility. It also owns and operates approximately 90,500 circuit Kilometers (km) of distribution lines; and approximately 51,600 km of natural gas pipelines. Fortis Inc. was founded in 1885 and is headquartered in St. John's, Canada.

About Spruce Power

Spruce Power Holding Corporation owns and operates distributed solar energy assets in the United States. The company provides subscription-based services for homeowners and businesses to own and maintain rooftop solar and battery storage. It offers its subscription-based services to approximately 75,000 customers. The company is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.