Korea Electric Power (NYSE:KEP) versus Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) Critical Survey

Korea Electric Power (NYSE:KEP) and Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) are both large-cap utilities companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, profitability, risk and valuation.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Korea Electric Power and Exelon, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Korea Electric Power	2	2	0	0	1.50
Exelon	1	13	4	0	2.17

Exelon has a consensus price target of $50.33, indicating a potential upside of 9.54%. Given Exelon’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Exelon is more favorable than Korea Electric Power.

Profitability

This table compares Korea Electric Power and Exelon’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Korea Electric Power	8.95%	18.25%	3.45%
Exelon	11.21%	9.83%	2.44%

Dividends

Korea Electric Power pays an annual dividend of $0.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.6%. Exelon pays an annual dividend of $1.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. Korea Electric Power pays out 10.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Exelon pays out 61.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Exelon has increased its dividend for 3 consecutive years. Korea Electric Power is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Korea Electric Power and Exelon”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Korea Electric Power	$96,742.09 billion	0.00	$5.98 billion	$4.78	2.37
Exelon	$24.26 billion	1.94	$2.77 billion	$2.73	16.83

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

Institutional and Insider Ownership

80.9% of Exelon shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of Korea Electric Power shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Exelon shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Risk and Volatility

Korea Electric Power has a beta of 0.95, indicating that its share price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Exelon has a beta of 0.31, indicating that its share price is 69% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Korea Electric Power beats Exelon on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Korea Electric Power

Korea Electric Power Corporation, an integrated electric utility company, engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity in South Korea and internationally. The company operates through Transmission and Distribution, Nuclear Power Generation, Thermal Power Generation, and Others segments. It generates power from nuclear, coal, oil, liquefied natural gas, internal combustion, combined-cycle, integrated gasification combined cycle, hydro, wind, solar, fuel cell, biogas, and other sources. As of December 31, 2022, the company had a total of 770 generation units, including nuclear, thermal, hydroelectric, and internal combustion units with an installed generation capacity of 82,723 megawatts; transmission system consisted of 35,451 circuit kilometers of lines of 765 kilovolts and others, including high-voltage direct current lines, as well as 895 substations with an installed transformer capacity of 347,426 megavolt-amperes; and distribution system included 139,265 megavolt-amperes of transformer capacity and 10,084,051 units of support with a total line length of 535,241 circuit kilometers. The company provides electricity to residential, commercial, educational, industrial, agricultural, street lighting, and overnight power usage. It also provides engineering and construction services for utility plant and others; utility plant maintenance, electric power information technology, resources development, facility maintenance, electric meter reading, and security services; and engages in nuclear fuel, fly ashes recycling, utility plants construction and operation, and wood pellet utilization businesses. Korea Electric Power Corporation was founded in 1898 and is headquartered in Naju-si, South Korea.

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.