Head-To-Head Contrast: NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) and Sunrun (NASDAQ:RUN)

Sunrun (NASDAQ:RUN) and NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) are both utilities companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, profitability, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Risk & Volatility

Sunrun has a beta of 2.37, suggesting that its stock price is 137% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NRG Energy has a beta of 1.18, suggesting that its stock price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

91.7% of Sunrun shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.7% of NRG Energy shares are held by institutional investors. 3.5% of Sunrun shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of NRG Energy shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sunrun	11.59%	9.59%	1.77%
NRG Energy	2.56%	52.95%	4.29%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Sunrun and NRG Energy, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sunrun	2	8	12	0	2.45
NRG Energy	0	4	10	1	2.80

Sunrun currently has a consensus price target of $16.81, suggesting a potential upside of 97.22%. NRG Energy has a consensus price target of $198.43, suggesting a potential upside of 82.83%. Given Sunrun’s higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Sunrun is more favorable than NRG Energy.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Sunrun and NRG Energy”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sunrun	$2.96 billion	0.69	$449.95 million	$1.48	5.76
NRG Energy	$30.71 billion	0.75	$864.00 million	$3.78	28.71

NRG Energy has higher revenue and earnings than Sunrun. Sunrun is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than NRG Energy, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

NRG Energy beats Sunrun on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sunrun

Sunrun Inc. designs, develops, installs, sells, owns, and maintains residential solar energy systems in the United States. It also sells solar energy systems and products, such as panels and racking; and solar leads generated to customers. In addition, the company offers battery storage along with solar energy systems; and sells services to commercial developers through multi-family and new homes. Its primary customers are residential homeowners. The company markets and sells its products through direct-to-consumer approach across online, retail, mass media, digital media, canvassing, field marketing, and referral channels, as well as its partner network. Sunrun Inc. was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in San Francisco, 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.