Enel Chile (NYSE:ENIC) versus MGE Energy (NASDAQ:MGEE) Head-To-Head Survey

Enel Chile (NYSE:ENIC) and MGE Energy (NASDAQ:MGEE) are both mid-cap utilities companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, valuation and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Enel Chile and MGE Energy, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Enel Chile	0	1	0	0	2.00
MGE Energy	1	0	0	0	1.00

MGE Energy has a consensus target price of $61.00, suggesting a potential downside of 15.85%. Given MGE Energy’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe MGE Energy is more favorable than Enel Chile.

Profitability

This table compares Enel Chile and MGE Energy’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Enel Chile	26.84%	127.33%	47.10%
MGE Energy	16.58%	10.72%	4.66%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

3.1% of Enel Chile shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 54.1% of MGE Energy shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of MGE Energy shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Enel Chile pays an annual dividend of $0.29 per share and has a dividend yield of 9.4%. MGE Energy pays an annual dividend of $1.71 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Enel Chile pays out 26.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. MGE 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. Enel Chile has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years and MGE Energy has increased its dividend for 48 consecutive years. Enel Chile is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Risk & Volatility

Enel Chile has a beta of 1.09, suggesting that its stock price is 9% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, MGE Energy has a beta of 0.76, suggesting that its stock price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Enel Chile and MGE Energy’s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Enel Chile	$5.43 billion	0.78	$1.38 billion	$1.11	2.77
MGE Energy	$714.52 million	3.67	$110.95 million	$3.16	22.94

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

Summary

Enel Chile beats MGE Energy on 9 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Enel Chile

Enel Chile S.A., an electricity utility company, engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity in Chile. The company operates through Generation, and Distribution and Networks Segments. It generates electricity through various sources, such as hydroelectric, thermal, wind, solar, and geothermal power plants. It distributes electricity in various municipalities of the Santiago metropolitan region. The company also engages in the sale and transportation of natural gas, and provision of engineering consulting services. It serves residential, commercial, industrial, and other customers. The company was formerly known as Enersis Chile S.A. and changed its name to Enel Chile S.A. in October 2016. The company was incorporated in 2016 and is headquartered in Santiago, Chile. Enel Chile S.A. (SNSE:ENELCHILE) operates as a subsidiary of Enel SpA (BIT:ENEL).

About MGE Energy

MGE Energy, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates as a public utility holding company primarily in Wisconsin. It operates through Regulated Electric Utility Operations; Regulated Gas Utility Operations; Nonregulated Energy Operations; Transmission Investments; and All Other segments. The company generates, purchases, and distributes electricity and natural gas in Wisconsin and Iowa; and plans, constructs, operates, maintains, and expands transmission facilities to provide transmission services. It also generates electricity from coal-fired, gas-fired, and renewable energy sources. MGE Energy, Inc. founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin.