Contrasting Electricité de France (OTCMKTS:ECIFF) and CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP)

Electricité de France (OTCMKTS:ECIFF) and CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) are both utilities companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, risk, institutional ownership and valuation.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

3.7% of Electricité de France shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.8% of CenterPoint Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of CenterPoint Energy shares are owned 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 Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Electricité de France and CenterPoint Energy, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Electricité de France	0	0	0	0	0.00
CenterPoint Energy	1	7	9	0	2.47

CenterPoint Energy has a consensus price target of $45.57, indicating a potential upside of 12.05%. Given CenterPoint Energy’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe CenterPoint Energy is more favorable than Electricité de France.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Electricité de France	N/A	N/A	N/A
CenterPoint Energy	11.61%	11.10%	2.68%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Electricité de France and CenterPoint Energy”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Electricité de France	N/A	N/A	N/A	$1.90	6.77
CenterPoint Energy	$9.36 billion	2.86	$1.05 billion	$1.70	23.92

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

Dividends

Electricité de France pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.3%. CenterPoint Energy pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Electricité de France pays out 35.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. CenterPoint Energy pays out 54.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. CenterPoint Energy has increased its dividend for 5 consecutive years. Electricité de France is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

CenterPoint Energy beats Electricité de France on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Electricité de France

Electricité de France S.A., an integrated energy company, engages in the power generation, transmission, distribution, supply, and trading activities in France, the United Kingdom, Italy, and internationally. The company generates electricity through nuclear, fossil fuel, hydro, solar, wind, biomass, biogas, thermal, and cogeneration plants. It also manages low and medium-voltage public electricity distribution networks; operates, maintains, and develops high-voltage and very-high-voltage electricity transmission networks; and services and produces equipment and fuel for nuclear reactors. In addition, the company is involved in commodity trading activities; and the provision of energy services, including district heating services, thermal energy services, etc. It serves approximately 38.5 million customers, including small businesses, local authorities, and industrial and residential customers. The company was founded in 1946 and is headquartered in Paris, France.

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.