Critical Review: Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR) vs. NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE)

NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE) and Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR) are both mid-cap utilities companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, risk, institutional ownership and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for NorthWestern and Portland General Electric, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
NorthWestern	0	1	0	0	2.00
Portland General Electric	1	8	2	0	2.09

NorthWestern currently has a consensus price target of $56.00, indicating a potential downside of 2.00%. Portland General Electric has a consensus price target of $45.40, indicating a potential upside of 6.67%. Given Portland General Electric’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Portland General Electric is more favorable than NorthWestern.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

96.1% of NorthWestern shares are held by institutional investors. 0.6% of NorthWestern shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of Portland General Electric shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Risk & Volatility

NorthWestern has a beta of 0.4, indicating that its share price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Portland General Electric has a beta of 0.63, indicating that its share price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

NorthWestern pays an annual dividend of $2.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.6%. Portland General Electric pays an annual dividend of $2.10 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.9%. NorthWestern pays out 71.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Portland General Electric pays out 77.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. NorthWestern has raised its dividend for 21 consecutive years and Portland General Electric has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares NorthWestern and Portland General Electric’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
NorthWestern	14.76%	7.30%	2.61%
Portland General Electric	8.43%	8.07%	2.45%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares NorthWestern and Portland General Electric”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
NorthWestern	$1.51 billion	2.32	$224.11 million	$3.67	15.57
Portland General Electric	$3.44 billion	1.36	$313.00 million	$2.71	15.70

Portland General Electric has higher revenue and earnings than NorthWestern. NorthWestern is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Portland General Electric, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Portland General Electric beats NorthWestern on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About NorthWestern

NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. provides electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial, and various industrial customers. It generates, purchases, transmits, and distributes electricity; and produces, purchases, stores, transmits, and distributes natural gas, as well as owns municipal franchises to provide natural gas service in the communities. The company operates 6,600 miles of electric transmission and 18,674 miles of electric distribution lines with approximately 395 transmission and distribution substations; and 2,235 miles of natural gas transmission and 5,155 miles of natural gas distribution lines with approximately 133 city gate stations in Montana. It also operates 1,310 miles of electric transmission and 2,365 miles of electric distribution lines in South Dakota with approximately 124 transmission and distribution substations; and 55 miles of natural gas transmission and 2,573 miles of natural gas distribution lines in South Dakota and Nebraska. The company provides electricity and/or natural gas to approximately 775,300 customers in Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Yellowstone National Park. NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. was founded in 1923 and is based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

About Portland General Electric

Portland General Electric Company, an integrated electric utility company, engages in the generation, wholesale purchase, transmission, distribution, and retail sale of electricity in the state of Oregon. It operates six thermal plants, three wind farms, and seven hydroelectric facilities. As of December 31, 2023, the company owned an electric transmission system consisting of 1,254 circuit miles, including 287 circuit miles of 500 kilovolt line, 413 circuit miles of 230 kilovolt line, and 554 miles of 115 kilovolt line; and served 934 thousand retail customers in 51 cities. It also has 28,868 circuit miles of distribution lines. Portland General Electric Company was founded in 1889 and is headquartered in Portland, Oregon.