Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel (NYSE:ELPC) vs. Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) Critical Review

Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel (NYSE:ELPC) and Evergy (NASDAQ:EVRG) are both utilities companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends and valuation.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

87.2% of Evergy shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.5% of Evergy shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.7%. Evergy pays an annual dividend of $2.78 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel pays out 85.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Evergy pays out 70.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Evergy has increased its dividend for 20 consecutive years.

Risk and Volatility

Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel has a beta of -0.1, meaning that its stock price is 110% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Evergy has a beta of 0.5, meaning that its stock price is 50% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel and Evergy, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel	0	2	1	1	2.75
Evergy	0	3	8	0	2.73

Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel presently has a consensus target price of $10.40, suggesting a potential downside of 18.97%. Evergy has a consensus target price of $90.60, suggesting a potential upside of 14.44%. Given Evergy’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Evergy is more favorable than Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel.

Profitability

This table compares Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel and Evergy’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel	N/A	N/A	N/A
Evergy	15.19%	9.20%	2.76%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel and Evergy”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel	$4.68 billion	2.04	$521.00 million	$0.70	18.34
Evergy	$5.96 billion	3.06	$855.60 million	$3.94	20.09

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

Summary

Evergy beats Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel on 15 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel

Companhia Paranaense de Energia – COPEL engages in the generation, transformation, distribution, and sale of electricity to industrial, residential, commercial, rural, and other customers in Brazil. The company operates through Power Generation and Transmission, Power Distribution, GAS, Power Sale, and Holding and Services segments. It is also involved in the piped natural gas distribution. The company operates hydroelectric, wind, and thermoelectric plants; and owns and operates transmission and distribution lines. It holds concessions to distribute electricity in municipalities in the State of Paraná and in the municipality of Porto União in the State of Santa Catarina. Companhia Paranaense de Energia COPEL was founded in 1954 and is headquartered in Curitiba, Brazil.

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.