Comparing Vistra (NYSE:VST) & Brookfield Renewable Partners (NYSE:BEP)

Vistra (NYSE:VST) and Brookfield Renewable Partners (NYSE:BEP) are both utilities companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability and earnings.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

90.9% of Vistra shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 63.2% of Brookfield Renewable Partners shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of Vistra shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility & Risk

Vistra has a beta of 1.37, meaning that its stock price is 37% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Brookfield Renewable Partners has a beta of 1.08, meaning that its stock price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Vistra and Brookfield Renewable Partners, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Vistra	1	3	17	1	2.82
Brookfield Renewable Partners	0	5	8	0	2.62

Vistra presently has a consensus target price of $200.45, indicating a potential upside of 49.06%. Brookfield Renewable Partners has a consensus target price of $36.73, indicating a potential upside of 24.14%. Given Vistra’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Vistra is more favorable than Brookfield Renewable Partners.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Vistra and Brookfield Renewable Partners”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Vistra	$17.74 billion	2.57	$944.00 million	$7.40	18.17
Brookfield Renewable Partners	$6.54 billion	1.37	$3.00 million	($0.75)	-39.45

Vistra has higher revenue and earnings than Brookfield Renewable Partners. Brookfield Renewable Partners is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Vistra, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Vistra and Brookfield Renewable Partners’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Vistra	13.15%	113.41%	8.50%
Brookfield Renewable Partners	-1.77%	-0.33%	-0.12%

Dividends

Vistra pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Brookfield Renewable Partners pays an annual dividend of $1.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.3%. Vistra pays out 12.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Brookfield Renewable Partners pays out -208.0% 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. Vistra has increased its dividend for 6 consecutive years and Brookfield Renewable Partners has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years. Brookfield Renewable Partners is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

Vistra beats Brookfield Renewable Partners on 16 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Vistra

Vistra Corp. is an integrated energy company that generates and sells electricity and provides related services to residential, commercial and industrial customers. Its retail businesses offer electricity plans and energy services through brands that include TXU Energy and Ambit Energy. The company owns and operates a diverse generation fleet, including natural gas, nuclear, coal and solar facilities, as well as battery energy storage systems. Its operations serve customers and wholesale power markets across multiple U.S. regions, including Texas and the eastern and central United States.

About Brookfield Renewable Partners

Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P. owns and operates a global portfolio of renewable power and sustainable energy assets. Its operations include hydroelectric, wind and solar generation, as well as battery storage and distributed energy businesses. The partnership serves markets across North America, South America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. It sells renewable electricity and related services to utilities, businesses and other customers. Brookfield Renewable traces its roots to Brookfield Asset Management’s renewable power business and operates as part of the Brookfield group.