Entergy (NYSE:ETR) vs. Avista (NYSE:AVA) Head-To-Head Analysis

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) and Avista (NYSE:AVA) are both utilities companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, risk and analyst recommendations.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

88.1% of Entergy shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 85.2% of Avista shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of Entergy shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Avista shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Entergy and Avista’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Entergy	14.26%	11.53%	2.70%
Avista	9.13%	6.86%	2.25%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Entergy and Avista”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Entergy	$12.73 billion	3.35	$1.06 billion	$4.05	23.55
Avista	$1.96 billion	1.70	$180.00 million	$2.35	17.43

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings for Entergy and Avista, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Entergy	0	3	12	2	2.94
Avista	0	3	0	0	2.00

Entergy presently has a consensus price target of $102.37, indicating a potential upside of 7.32%. Avista has a consensus price target of $40.33, indicating a potential downside of 1.50%. Given Entergy’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Entergy is more favorable than Avista.

Risk & Volatility

Entergy has a beta of 0.63, indicating that its stock price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Avista has a beta of 0.39, indicating that its stock price is 61% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Entergy pays an annual dividend of $2.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Avista pays an annual dividend of $1.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.8%. Entergy pays out 63.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Avista pays out 83.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Entergy has raised its dividend for 10 consecutive years and Avista has raised its dividend for 23 consecutive years. Avista is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

Entergy beats Avista on 15 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Entergy

Entergy Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the production and retail distribution of electricity in the United States. It generates, transmits, distributes, and sells electric power in portions of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, including the City of New Orleans; and distributes natural gas. It also engages in the ownership of interests in non-nuclear power plants that sell electric power to wholesale customers, as well as provides decommissioning services to other nuclear power plant owners. It generates electricity through gas, nuclear, coal, hydro, and solar power sources. The company sells energy to retail power providers, utilities, electric power co-operatives, power trading organizations, and other power generation companies. The company’s power plants have approximately 24,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity. It delivers electricity to 3 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. Entergy Corporation was founded in 1913 and is headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana.

About Avista

Avista Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an electric and natural gas utility company. It operates in two segments, Avista Utilities and AEL&P. The Avista Utilities segment provides electric distribution and transmission, and natural gas distribution services in parts of eastern Washington and northern Idaho; and natural gas distribution services in parts of northeastern and southwestern Oregon, as well as generates electricity in Washington, Idaho, Oregon, and Montana. This segment also engages in the supply of electricity to customers in Montana; and wholesale purchase and sale of electricity and natural gas. The AEL&P segment offers electric services in Juneau, Alaska. The company generates electricity through hydroelectric, thermal, wind, and solar generation facilities. As of December 31, 2023, it supplied retail electric services to approximately 416,000 customers; and retail natural gas services to approximately 381,000 customers. The company also operates five hydroelectric generation facilities with capacity of 102.7 MW; and four diesel generating facilities with a capacity of 107.5 MW. It also engages in venture fund investments, real estate investments, and other investments. Avista Corporation was incorporated in 1889 and is headquartered in Spokane, Washington.