Elster Group (OTCMKTS:ELTTY) and Consolidated Edison (NYSE:ED) Financial Analysis

Consolidated Edison (NYSE:ED) and Elster Group (OTCMKTS:ELTTY) are both utilities companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, dividends, risk, valuation, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

66.3% of Consolidated Edison shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of Consolidated Edison shares are held by company 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.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Consolidated Edison and Elster Group, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Consolidated Edison	6	7	2	0	1.73
Elster Group	0	0	0	0	0.00

Consolidated Edison presently has a consensus target price of $109.07, suggesting a potential upside of 2.06%. Given Consolidated Edison’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Consolidated Edison is more favorable than Elster Group.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Consolidated Edison and Elster Group”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Consolidated Edison	$16.92 billion	2.34	$2.02 billion	$6.09	17.55
Elster Group	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Consolidated Edison has higher revenue and earnings than Elster Group.

Profitability

This table compares Consolidated Edison and Elster Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Consolidated Edison	12.53%	8.44%	2.83%
Elster Group	N/A	N/A	N/A

Summary

Consolidated Edison beats Elster Group on 9 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Consolidated Edison

Consolidated Edison, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the regulated electric, gas, and steam delivery businesses in the United States. It offers electric services to approximately 3.7 million customers in New York City and Westchester County; gas to approximately 1.1 million customers in Manhattan, the Bronx, parts of Queens, and Westchester County; and steam to approximately 1,530 customers in parts of Manhattan. The company also supplies electricity to approximately 0.3 million customers in southeastern New York and northern New Jersey; and gas to approximately 0.2 million customers in southeastern New York. In addition, it operates 545 circuit miles of transmission lines; 15 transmission substations; 63 distribution substations; 90,051 in-service line transformers; 3,788 pole miles of overhead distribution lines; and 2,314 miles of underground distribution lines, as well as 4,363 miles of mains and 380,870 service lines for natural gas distribution. Further, the company invests in electric and gas transmission projects. It primarily sells electricity to industrial, commercial, residential, and government customers. Consolidated Edison, Inc. was founded in 1823 and is based in New York, New York.

About Elster Group

Elster Group SE (Elster) is a provider of gas, electricity and water meters and related communications, networking and software solutions with operations in more than 30 countries. Its portfolio of products and solutions are used to measure gas, electricity and water consumption. The Company operates in three segments: Gas, Electricity and Water. The Gas business provides products and solutions for gas metering, gas utilization and distribution. The Electricity business provides electronic single-phase and polyphase meters for residential and commercial and industrial applications. The Water segment provides brass and polymer-based mechanical and electronic meters for residential and commercial and industrial applications, including single-jet and multi-jet flow meters or volumetric meters.