Analyzing Lightbridge (NASDAQ:LTBR) and Talen Energy (NASDAQ:TLN)

Lightbridge (NASDAQ:LTBR) and Talen Energy (NASDAQ:TLN) are both energy companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, dividends, risk and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares Lightbridge and Talen Energy’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lightbridge	N/A	-15.31%	-15.17%
Talen Energy	-8.49%	22.58%	3.93%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Lightbridge and Talen Energy, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lightbridge	1	0	0	0	1.00
Talen Energy	1	2	12	0	2.73

Talen Energy has a consensus target price of $438.17, indicating a potential upside of 35.01%. Given Talen Energy’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Talen Energy is more favorable than Lightbridge.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Lightbridge and Talen Energy”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lightbridge	N/A	N/A	-$19.58 million	($0.81)	-13.21
Talen Energy	$2.58 billion	5.71	-$219.00 million	($4.94)	-65.70

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

9.1% of Lightbridge shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.4% of Talen Energy shares are held by institutional investors. 6.5% of Lightbridge shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Talen Energy shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Lightbridge has a beta of 1.98, indicating that its share price is 98% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Talen Energy has a beta of 1.94, indicating that its share price is 94% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Lightbridge beats Talen Energy on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Lightbridge

Lightbridge Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in developing nuclear fuel technology. It develops and commercializes metallic nuclear fuels. The company was formerly known as Thorium Power, Ltd. and changed its name to Lightbridge Corporation in September 2009. Lightbridge Corporation is headquartered in Reston, Virginia.

About Talen Energy

Talen Energy Corporation is a U.S.-based energy and power generation company. The Company owns or controls approximately 16,000 megawatts of capacity in wholesale power markets, principally in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Southwest regions of the United States. The Company generates and sells electricity, capacity and related products from power plants that use fuel sources, such as nuclear, natural gas and coal. The Company’s Susquehanna nuclear power plant has approximately two boiling water reactors with a combined capacity of over 2,600 megawatts. Its fossil fuel plants are located in Athens, Barney Davis, Bayonne, Brandon Shores, Brunner Island, Camden, Colstrip and Dartmouth, among others. It has an art energy trading center located in Allentown, Pennsylvania (PA), where it manages asset load obligations, fuel supply, capacity and related products, and all supporting physical or financial transactions for its electric generation portfolio.