Talen Energy (TLN) & The Competition Critical Review

Talen Energy (NASDAQ:TLN) is one of 141 public companies in the “Independent Power & Renewable Electricity Producers” industry, but how does it contrast to its competitors? We will compare Talen Energy to similar companies based on the strength of its analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, risk, earnings, dividends and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Talen Energy and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Talen Energy	2	2	12	0	2.62
Talen Energy Competitors	961	2976	3792	186	2.40

Talen Energy presently has a consensus price target of $458.69, suggesting a potential upside of 37.75%. As a group, “Independent Power & Renewable Electricity Producers” companies have a potential upside of 159.36%. Given Talen Energy’s competitors higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Talen Energy has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Profitability

This table compares Talen Energy and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Talen Energy	-5.38%	43.32%	5.31%
Talen Energy Competitors	-37.00%	13.62%	0.71%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

0.4% of Talen Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 35.2% of shares of all “Independent Power & Renewable Electricity Producers” companies are owned by institutional investors. 0.8% of Talen Energy shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 21.7% of shares of all “Independent Power & Renewable Electricity Producers” companies are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Talen Energy and its competitors gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Talen Energy	$3.74 billion	-$219.00 million	-79.85
Talen Energy Competitors	$8.50 billion	$801.06 million	14.86

Talen Energy’s competitors have higher revenue and earnings than Talen Energy. Talen Energy is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Risk and Volatility

Talen Energy has a beta of 1.82, indicating that its stock price is 82% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Talen Energy’s competitors have a beta of 0.62, indicating that their average stock price is 38% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Talen Energy competitors beat Talen Energy on 7 of the 13 factors compared.

About Talen Energy

Talen Energy Corporation is a U.S.-based energy and power generation company. The Company owns or controls approximately 16,000 megawatts of capacity in wholesale power markets, principally in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Southwest regions of the United States. The Company generates and sells electricity, capacity and related products from power plants that use fuel sources, such as nuclear, natural gas and coal. The Company’s Susquehanna nuclear power plant has approximately two boiling water reactors with a combined capacity of over 2,600 megawatts. Its fossil fuel plants are located in Athens, Barney Davis, Bayonne, Brandon Shores, Brunner Island, Camden, Colstrip and Dartmouth, among others. It has an art energy trading center located in Allentown, Pennsylvania (PA), where it manages asset load obligations, fuel supply, capacity and related products, and all supporting physical or financial transactions for its electric generation portfolio.