Financial Comparison: Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) versus IDACORP (NYSE:IDA)

Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) and IDACORP (NYSE:IDA) are both utilities companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, dividends, risk and valuation.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Evergy and IDACORP”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Evergy	$5.88 billion	3.04	$873.50 million	$3.65	21.25
IDACORP	$1.83 billion	4.01	$289.17 million	$5.82	23.26

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

Risk & Volatility

Evergy has a beta of 0.66, meaning that its share price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, IDACORP has a beta of 0.59, meaning that its share price is 41% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Evergy and IDACORP, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Evergy	0	2	7	1	2.90
IDACORP	1	1	8	0	2.70

Evergy presently has a consensus price target of $83.63, suggesting a potential upside of 7.81%. IDACORP has a consensus price target of $137.67, suggesting a potential upside of 1.67%. Given Evergy’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Evergy is more favorable than IDACORP.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

87.2% of Evergy shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.1% of IDACORP shares are held by institutional investors. 1.4% of Evergy shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of IDACORP shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Evergy and IDACORP’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Evergy	14.45%	8.66%	2.66%
IDACORP	17.59%	9.35%	3.27%

Dividends

Evergy pays an annual dividend of $2.78 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. IDACORP pays an annual dividend of $3.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Evergy pays out 76.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. IDACORP pays out 60.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Evergy has increased its dividend for 20 consecutive years and IDACORP has increased its dividend for 13 consecutive years. Evergy is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

About Evergy

Evergy, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity in the United States. The company generates electricity through coal, landfill gas, uranium, and natural gas and oil sources, as well as solar, wind, other renewable sources. It serves residences, commercial firms, industrials, municipalities, and other electric utilities. The company was incorporated in 2017 and is headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri.

About IDACORP

IDACORP, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, transmission, distribution, purchase, and sale of electric energy in the United States. The company operates 17 hydropower generating plants located in southern Idaho and eastern Oregon; three natural gas-fired plants in southern Idaho; and interests in two coal-fired steam electric generating plants located in Wyoming and Nevada. As of December 31, 2023, it had approximately 4,762 pole-miles of high-voltage transmission lines; 23 step-up transmission substations located at power plants; 21 transmission substations; 11 switching stations; 30 mixed-use transmission and distribution substations; 186 energized distribution substations; and 29,714 pole-miles of distribution lines, and 131 MW of battery storage, as well as provides electric utility services to approximately 633,000 retail customers in southern Idaho and eastern Oregon. The company serves commercial and industrial customers, which involved in food processing, electronics and general manufacturing, agriculture, health care, government, and education. It also invests in housing and other real estate tax credit investments. IDACORP, Inc. was founded in 1915 and is headquartered in Boise, Idaho.