Financial Contrast: Vistra (NYSE:VST) vs. Spark Power Group (OTCMKTS:SKPGF)

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

90.9% of Vistra shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of Vistra shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Spark Power Group and Vistra, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Spark Power Group	0	0	0	0	0.00
Vistra	0	1	13	3	3.12

Vistra has a consensus target price of $228.56, suggesting a potential upside of 54.09%. Given Vistra’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Vistra is more favorable than Spark Power Group.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Spark Power Group and Vistra”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Spark Power Group	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Vistra	$17.74 billion	2.81	$944.00 million	$5.92	25.06

Vistra has higher revenue and earnings than Spark Power Group.

Profitability

This table compares Spark Power Group and Vistra’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Spark Power Group	N/A	N/A	N/A
Vistra	11.55%	108.68%	7.67%

Summary

Vistra beats Spark Power Group on 10 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Spark Power Group

Spark Power Group Inc. provides electrical contracting, operations, and maintenance services, as well as energy sustainability solutions in Canada and the United States. The company's Technical Services segment offers low-voltage technical services, including electrical contracting, custom control panel design and assembly, industrial automation, electronic repair, systems integration, and 24/7 emergency services; and medium and high voltage technical services, such as power on', equipment installation, sub-station construction and maintenance, commissioning, power line construction and maintenance, thermography, and transformer maintenance services. This segment also provides engineering services comprising power systems engineering, protection and control engineering, substation engineering, SCADA engineering, and arc flash studies, as well as fabrication shop/paint services; buys, refurbishes, and resells used electrical equipment; sells and rents power transformers; and sells medium voltage electrical switchgears. Its Renewables segment offers renewables operations and maintenance services comprising wind, solar, battery energy storage systems, and electric vehicle assets. The company serves industrial, commercial, institutional, renewable, and agricultural customers, as well as utility markets, including municipalities, universities, schools, and hospitals. Spark Power Group Inc. is headquartered in Oakville, Canada. As of December 5, 2023, Spark Power Group Inc. was taken private.

About Vistra

Vistra Corp., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated retail electricity and power generation company. The company operates through six segments: Retail, Texas, East, West, Sunset, and Asset Closure. It retails electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial, and industrial customers across states in the United States and the District of Columbia. In addition, the company is involved in the electricity generation, wholesale energy purchases and sales, commodity risk management, fuel production, and fuel logistics management activities. It serves approximately 4 million customers with a generation capacity of approximately 37,000 megawatts with a portfolio of natural gas, nuclear, coal, solar, and battery energy storage facilities. The company was formerly known as Vistra Energy Corp. and changed its name to Vistra Corp. in July 2020. Vistra Corp. was founded in 1882 and is based in Irving, Texas.