Reviewing Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) and Empresa Distribuidora Y Comercializadora Norte S.A. (Edenor) (NYSE:EDN)

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) and Empresa Distribuidora Y Comercializadora Norte S.A. (Edenor) (NYSE:EDN) are both utilities companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, profitability, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

80.9% of Exelon shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 1.6% of Empresa Distribuidora Y Comercializadora Norte S.A. (Edenor) shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of Exelon shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Exelon and Empresa Distribuidora Y Comercializadora Norte S.A. (Edenor), as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Exelon	1	5	6	1	2.54
Empresa Distribuidora Y Comercializadora Norte S.A. (Edenor)	1	1	0	0	1.50

Exelon currently has a consensus price target of $50.55, suggesting a potential upside of 9.60%. Empresa Distribuidora Y Comercializadora Norte S.A. (Edenor) has a consensus price target of $36.00, suggesting a potential upside of 7.86%. Given Exelon’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Exelon is more favorable than Empresa Distribuidora Y Comercializadora Norte S.A. (Edenor).

Risk & Volatility

Exelon has a beta of 0.4, suggesting that its stock price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Empresa Distribuidora Y Comercializadora Norte S.A. (Edenor) has a beta of 1.53, suggesting that its stock price is 53% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Exelon and Empresa Distribuidora Y Comercializadora Norte S.A. (Edenor)’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Exelon	11.16%	9.85%	2.47%
Empresa Distribuidora Y Comercializadora Norte S.A. (Edenor)	11.55%	18.04%	6.71%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Exelon and Empresa Distribuidora Y Comercializadora Norte S.A. (Edenor)”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Exelon	$23.77 billion	1.96	$2.46 billion	$2.63	17.54
Empresa Distribuidora Y Comercializadora Norte S.A. (Edenor)	$2.24 billion	0.67	$299.34 million	$6.26	5.33

Exelon has higher revenue and earnings than Empresa Distribuidora Y Comercializadora Norte S.A. (Edenor). Empresa Distribuidora Y Comercializadora Norte S.A. (Edenor) is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Exelon, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Exelon beats Empresa Distribuidora Y Comercializadora Norte S.A. (Edenor) on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Exelon

Exelon Corporation, a utility services holding company, engages in the energy distribution and transmission businesses in the United States and Canada. The company is involved in the purchase and regulated retail sale of electricity and natural gas, transmission and distribution of electricity, and distribution of natural gas to retail customers. It also offers support services, including legal, human resources, information technology, supply management, financial, engineering, customer operations, transmission and distribution planning, asset management, system operations, and power procurement services. It serves distribution utilities, municipalities, and financial institutions, as well as commercial, industrial, governmental, and residential customers. Exelon Corporation was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

About Empresa Distribuidora Y Comercializadora Norte S.A. (Edenor)

Empresa Distribuidora y Comercializadora Norte Sociedad Anónima is involved in the distribution and sale of electricity in Argentina. The company was incorporated in 1992 and is based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Empresa Distribuidora y Comercializadora Norte Sociedad Anónima operates as a subsidiary of Empresa de Energía del Cono Sur S.A..