Consolidated Edison (NYSE:ED) versus Brookfield Infrastructure (NYSE:BIPC) Critical Comparison

Brookfield Infrastructure (NYSE:BIPC) and Consolidated Edison (NYSE:ED) are both utilities companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, profitability, earnings, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Brookfield Infrastructure and Consolidated Edison, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Brookfield Infrastructure	2	0	0	0	1.00
Consolidated Edison	6	6	3	0	1.80

Brookfield Infrastructure presently has a consensus target price of $50.00, indicating a potential upside of 26.23%. Consolidated Edison has a consensus target price of $108.93, indicating a potential upside of 1.66%. Given Brookfield Infrastructure’s higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Brookfield Infrastructure is more favorable than Consolidated Edison.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

70.4% of Brookfield Infrastructure shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 66.3% of Consolidated Edison shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of Consolidated Edison shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Brookfield Infrastructure and Consolidated Edison’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Brookfield Infrastructure	N/A	N/A	N/A
Consolidated Edison	12.53%	8.44%	2.83%

Volatility & Risk

Brookfield Infrastructure has a beta of 1.32, meaning that its stock price is 32% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Consolidated Edison has a beta of 0.27, meaning that its stock price is 73% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Brookfield Infrastructure pays an annual dividend of $1.82 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.6%. Consolidated Edison pays an annual dividend of $3.55 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Consolidated Edison pays out 58.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Brookfield Infrastructure has increased its dividend for 5 consecutive years and Consolidated Edison has increased its dividend for 52 consecutive years.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Brookfield Infrastructure and Consolidated Edison”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Brookfield Infrastructure	$3.70 billion	1.32	N/A	N/A	N/A
Consolidated Edison	$16.92 billion	2.34	$2.02 billion	$6.09	17.59

Consolidated Edison has higher revenue and earnings than Brookfield Infrastructure.

Summary

Consolidated Edison beats Brookfield Infrastructure on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Brookfield Infrastructure

Brookfield Infrastructure Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, owns and operates regulated natural gas transmission systems in Brazil. The company also engages in the regulated gas and electricity distribution operations in the United Kingdom; and electricity transmission and distribution, as well as gas distribution in Australia. It operates approximately 2,000 kilometers of natural gas transportation pipelines in the states of Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, and Minas Gerais; 4.3 million gas and electricity connections; and a global fleet of approximately 7 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) intermodal containers under long-term contracts. The company was incorporated in 2019 and is headquartered in New York, New York. Brookfield Infrastructure Corporation operates as a subsidiary of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P.

About Consolidated Edison

Consolidated Edison, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the regulated electric, gas, and steam delivery businesses in the United States. It offers electric services to approximately 3.7 million customers in New York City and Westchester County; gas to approximately 1.1 million customers in Manhattan, the Bronx, parts of Queens, and Westchester County; and steam to approximately 1,530 customers in parts of Manhattan. The company also supplies electricity to approximately 0.3 million customers in southeastern New York and northern New Jersey; and gas to approximately 0.2 million customers in southeastern New York. In addition, it operates 545 circuit miles of transmission lines; 15 transmission substations; 63 distribution substations; 90,051 in-service line transformers; 3,788 pole miles of overhead distribution lines; and 2,314 miles of underground distribution lines, as well as 4,363 miles of mains and 380,870 service lines for natural gas distribution. Further, the company invests in electric and gas transmission projects. It primarily sells electricity to industrial, commercial, residential, and government customers. Consolidated Edison, Inc. was founded in 1823 and is based in New York, New York.