Contrasting Edison International (EIX) and Its Peers

Edison International (NYSE:EIX) is one of 105 public companies in the “Electric Utilities” industry, but how does it compare to its rivals? We will compare Edison International to related companies based on the strength of its risk, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, valuation and dividends.

Dividends

Edison International pays an annual dividend of $3.51 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.0%. Edison International pays out 37.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Electric Utilities” companies pay a dividend yield of 3.2% and pay out 64.5% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Edison International has increased its dividend for 23 consecutive years. Edison International is clearly a better dividend stock than its rivals, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Risk and Volatility

Edison International has a beta of 0.62, meaning that its stock price is 38% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Edison International’s rivals have a beta of -1.84, meaning that their average stock price is 284% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Edison International and its rivals, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Edison International	4	10	1	0	1.80
Edison International Competitors	1429	6534	5509	145	2.32

Edison International presently has a consensus target price of $60.73, indicating a potential upside of 3.07%. As a group, “Electric Utilities” companies have a potential upside of 5.15%. Given Edison International’s rivals stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Edison International has less favorable growth aspects than its rivals.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Edison International and its rivals top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Edison International	$18.56 billion	$4.70 billion	6.26
Edison International Competitors	$1,572.37 billion	$1.54 billion	20.00

Edison International’s rivals have higher revenue, but lower earnings than Edison International. Edison International is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Profitability

This table compares Edison International and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Edison International	20.50%	14.27%	2.84%
Edison International Competitors	14.09%	9.63%	3.18%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

88.9% of Edison International shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 60.0% of shares of all “Electric Utilities” companies are held by institutional investors. 1.2% of Edison International shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 6.2% of shares of all “Electric Utilities” companies are held by 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.

Summary

Edison International rivals beat Edison International on 8 of the 15 factors compared.

About Edison International

Edison International, through its subsidiaries, engages in the generation and distribution of electric power. The company supplies and delivers electricity to approximately 50,000 square mile area of southern California to residential, commercial, industrial, public authorities, agricultural, and other sectors. Its transmission facilities consist of lines ranging from 55 kV to 500 kV and approximately 80 transmission substations; distribution system consists of approximately 38,000 circuit-miles of overhead lines; approximately 31,000 circuit-miles of underground lines; and 730 distribution substations. The company was founded in 1886 and is based in Rosemead, California.