Financial Contrast: Fluence Energy (NASDAQ:FLNC) vs. Central Puerto (NYSE:CEPU)

Central Puerto (NYSE:CEPU) and Fluence Energy (NASDAQ:FLNC) are both mid-cap energy companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation and dividends.

Risk & Volatility

Central Puerto has a beta of 0.83, meaning that its stock price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Fluence Energy has a beta of 2.62, meaning that its stock price is 162% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Central Puerto and Fluence Energy”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Central Puerto	$782.60 million	2.71	$277.08 million	$2.08	6.73
Fluence Energy	$2.58 billion	1.53	-$48.31 million	($0.36)	-59.69

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

Institutional and Insider Ownership

3.0% of Central Puerto shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 53.2% of Fluence Energy shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of Central Puerto shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of Fluence Energy shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for Central Puerto and Fluence Energy, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Central Puerto	0	1	1	0	2.50
Fluence Energy	4	12	5	0	2.05

Central Puerto presently has a consensus price target of $17.50, indicating a potential upside of 25.02%. Fluence Energy has a consensus price target of $19.47, indicating a potential downside of 9.40%. Given Central Puerto’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Central Puerto is more favorable than Fluence Energy.

Profitability

This table compares Central Puerto and Fluence Energy’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Central Puerto	37.86%	15.69%	10.94%
Fluence Energy	-1.62%	-8.29%	-1.85%

Summary

Central Puerto beats Fluence Energy on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Central Puerto

Central Puerto S.A. engages in the electric power generation in Argentina. It operates through three segments: Electric Power Generation from Conventional Sources, Electric Power Generation from Renewable Sources, and Natural Gas Transport and Distribution. The company generates energy through thermal, hydroelectric, and wind farms. It also engages in the natural gas transport and distribution business. Central Puerto S.A. was founded in 1898 and is based in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

About Fluence Energy

Fluence Energy, Inc., through its subsidiaries, offers energy storage products and solution, services, and artificial intelligence enabled software-as-a-service products for renewables and storage applications in the Americas, the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. The company sells energy storage products with integrated hardware, software, and digital intelligence. Its energy storage products include Gridstack Pro, a large-scale front-of-the-meter application; Gridstack, a front-of-the-meter application; Sunstack, a DC-coupled energy storage product for DC-coupled solar + storage projects; Edgestack, for smaller-scale commercial and industrial use cases; and Ultrastack, for critical system requirements of distribution and transmission networks. The company also provides engineering and delivery services to support the deployment of its storage products; operational and maintenance services; and digital applications. It serves independent power producers, developer, utilities, and other generators. Fluence Energy, Inc. was founded in 2018 and is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. Fluence Energy, Inc. is a joint venture of Siemens Aktiengesellschaft and The AES Corporation.