AES (NYSE:AES) and Kenon (NYSE:KEN) Financial Contrast

AES (NYSE:AES) and Kenon (NYSE:KEN) are both utilities companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings, profitability and dividends.

Profitability

This table compares AES and Kenon’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AES	14.30%	20.69%	3.62%
Kenon	10.03%	4.46%	2.42%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares AES and Kenon”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
AES	$12.23 billion	0.87	$910.00 million	$2.62	5.69
Kenon	$871.63 million	3.86	$66.27 million	$1.79	36.10

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for AES and Kenon, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AES	0	7	0	0	2.00
Kenon	0	1	0	0	2.00

AES presently has a consensus target price of $15.83, indicating a potential upside of 6.17%. Given AES’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe AES is more favorable than Kenon.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

93.1% of AES shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 13.4% of Kenon shares are held by institutional investors. 0.8% of AES shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Kenon shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

AES pays an annual dividend of $0.70 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.7%. Kenon pays an annual dividend of $3.85 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.0%. AES pays out 26.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Kenon pays out 215.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. AES has raised its dividend for 12 consecutive years and Kenon has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years.

Volatility and Risk

AES has a beta of 0.95, suggesting that its stock price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Kenon has a beta of 1.21, suggesting that its stock price is 21% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

AES beats Kenon on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About AES

The AES Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a diversified power generation and utility company in the United States and internationally. The company owns and/or operates power plants to generate and sell power to customers, such as utilities, industrial users, and other intermediaries; owns and/or operates utilities to generate or purchase, distribute, transmit, and sell electricity to end-user customers in the residential, commercial, industrial, and governmental sectors; and generates and sells electricity on the wholesale market. It uses various fuels and technologies to generate electricity, such as coal, gas, hydro, wind, solar, and biomass, as well as renewables comprising energy storage and landfill gas. The company owns and/or operates a generation portfolio of approximately 34,596 megawatts and distributes power to 2.6 million customers. The company was formerly known as Applied Energy Services, Inc. and changed its name to The AES Corporation in April 2000. The AES Corporation was incorporated in 1981 and is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia.

About Kenon

Kenon Holdings Ltd., through its subsidiaries, operates as an owner, developer, and operator of power generation facilities in Israel, the United States, and internationally. It operates through OPC Power Plants, CPV Group, and ZIM segments. The company engages in the generation and supply of electricity and energy; development, construction, and management of solar and wind energy, and conventional natural gas-fired power plants; and provision of container liner shipping services. It also operates a fleet of 150 vessels. Kenon Holdings Ltd. was incorporated in 2014 and is based in Singapore. Kenon Holdings Ltd. operates as a subsidiary of Ansonia Holdings Singapore B.V.