Kenon (NYSE:KEN) and Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) Head-To-Head Contrast

Kenon (NYSE:KEN) and Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) are both utilities companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk and earnings.

Risk & Volatility

Kenon has a beta of 1.08, suggesting that its stock price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Exelon has a beta of 0.41, suggesting that its stock price is 59% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Kenon and Exelon’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Kenon	11.53%	2.84%	1.70%
Exelon	11.41%	9.97%	2.48%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

13.4% of Kenon shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.9% of Exelon shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.1% of Kenon shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Exelon shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Kenon and Exelon, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Kenon	0	1	0	0	2.00
Exelon	2	7	9	0	2.39

Exelon has a consensus target price of $51.47, suggesting a potential upside of 4.93%. Given Exelon’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Exelon is more favorable than Kenon.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Kenon and Exelon”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Kenon	$871.63 million	5.04	$100.51 million	$0.77	109.54
Exelon	$24.26 billion	2.07	$2.77 billion	$2.73	17.97

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

Dividends

Kenon pays an annual dividend of $4.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.7%. Exelon pays an annual dividend of $1.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. Kenon pays out 623.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Exelon pays out 61.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Kenon has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years and Exelon has raised its dividend for 3 consecutive years.

Summary

Exelon beats Kenon on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Kenon

Kenon Holdings Ltd., through its subsidiaries, operates as an owner, developer, and operator of power generation facilities in Israel, the United States, and internationally. It operates through OPC Power Plants, CPV Group, and ZIM segments. The company engages in the generation and supply of electricity and energy; development, construction, and management of solar and wind energy, and conventional natural gas-fired power plants; and provision of container liner shipping services. It also operates a fleet of 150 vessels. Kenon Holdings Ltd. was incorporated in 2014 and is based in Singapore. Kenon Holdings Ltd. operates as a subsidiary of Ansonia Holdings Singapore B.V.

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.