Reviewing Commerce Energy Group (OTCMKTS:CMNR) and NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG)

Commerce Energy Group (OTCMKTS:CMNR) and NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) are both utilities companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, profitability and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Commerce Energy Group and NRG Energy, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Commerce Energy Group	0	0	0	0	0.00
NRG Energy	0	4	11	1	2.81

NRG Energy has a consensus price target of $198.29, indicating a potential upside of 32.09%. Given NRG Energy’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe NRG Energy is more favorable than Commerce Energy Group.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Commerce Energy Group and NRG Energy”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Commerce Energy Group	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
NRG Energy	$30.71 billion	1.05	$864.00 million	$3.94	38.10

NRG Energy has higher revenue and earnings than Commerce Energy Group.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

97.7% of NRG Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of Commerce Energy Group shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of NRG Energy shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Commerce Energy Group and NRG Energy’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Commerce Energy Group	N/A	N/A	N/A
NRG Energy	2.81%	109.48%	6.55%

Summary

NRG Energy beats Commerce Energy Group on 9 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Commerce Energy Group

Commerce Energy Group Inc. through its subsidiaries provides electric power and natural gas to residential, commercial, industrial and institutional customers in California, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Maryland, New Jersey, Texas, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, and Ohio. The company was founded in 1997 and is based in Costa Mesa, California.

About NRG Energy

NRG Energy, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy and home services company in the United States and Canada. It operates through Texas; East; West/Services/Other; Vivint Smart Home; and Corporate Activities segments. The company produces and sells electricity generated using coal, oil, solar, and battery storage; natural gas; and a cloud-based home platform, including hardware, software, sales, installation, customer service, technical support, and professional monitoring solutions. It offers retail electricity and energy management, line and surge protection products, HVAC installation, repair and maintenance, home protection products, carbon offsets, back-up power stations, portable power, portable solar, and portable lighting; retail services comprising demand response, commodity sales, energy efficiency, and energy management solutions; and system power, distributed generation, renewable and low-carbon products, carbon management and specialty services, backup generation, storage and distributed solar, and energy advisory services. In addition, the company trades in power, natural gas, and related commodities; environmental products; weather products; and financial products, including forwards, futures, options, and swaps. It offers its products and services under the NRG, Reliant, Direct Energy, Green Mountain Energy, and Vivint. It serves residential, commercial, government, industrial, and wholesale customers. NRG Energy, Inc. was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.