Contrasting Public Service Enterprise Group (NYSE:PEG) & Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel (NYSE:ELPC)

Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel (NYSE:ELPC) and Public Service Enterprise Group (NYSE:PEG) are both utilities companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, dividends, earnings, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel and Public Service Enterprise Group, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel	0	2	1	1	2.75
Public Service Enterprise Group	0	7	7	1	2.60

Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel currently has a consensus price target of $10.40, suggesting a potential downside of 9.88%. Public Service Enterprise Group has a consensus price target of $93.19, suggesting a potential upside of 16.02%. Given Public Service Enterprise Group’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Public Service Enterprise Group is more favorable than Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel and Public Service Enterprise Group”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel	$4.68 billion	1.84	$424.24 million	$0.57	20.25
Public Service Enterprise Group	$12.17 billion	3.29	$2.11 billion	$4.52	17.77

Public Service Enterprise Group has higher revenue and earnings than Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel. Public Service Enterprise Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility & Risk

Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel has a beta of -0.07, meaning that its stock price is 107% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Public Service Enterprise Group has a beta of 0.51, meaning that its stock price is 49% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

73.3% of Public Service Enterprise Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of Public Service Enterprise Group shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel and Public Service Enterprise Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel	N/A	N/A	N/A
Public Service Enterprise Group	17.69%	12.30%	3.66%

Dividends

Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel pays an annual dividend of $0.58 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.0%. Public Service Enterprise Group pays an annual dividend of $2.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel pays out 101.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Public Service Enterprise Group pays out 59.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Public Service Enterprise Group has raised its dividend for 14 consecutive years.

Summary

Public Service Enterprise Group beats Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel on 14 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Companhia Paranaense de Energia – Copel

Companhia Paranaense de Energia – COPEL engages in the generation, transformation, distribution, and sale of electricity to industrial, residential, commercial, rural, and other customers in Brazil. The company operates through Power Generation and Transmission, Power Distribution, GAS, Power Sale, and Holding and Services segments. It is also involved in the piped natural gas distribution. The company operates hydroelectric, wind, and thermoelectric plants; and owns and operates transmission and distribution lines. It holds concessions to distribute electricity in municipalities in the State of Paraná and in the municipality of Porto União in the State of Santa Catarina. Companhia Paranaense de Energia COPEL was founded in 1954 and is headquartered in Curitiba, Brazil.

About Public Service Enterprise Group

Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated, through its subsidiaries, operates in electric and gas utility business in the United States. It operates through PSE&G and PSEG Power segments. The PSE&G segment transmits electricity; distributes electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial, and industrial customers; and appliance services and repairs to customers through its service territory, as well as invests in solar generation projects, and energy efficiency and related programs. The PSEG Power segment engages in nuclear generation businesses; and supplies power and natural gas to nuclear power plants and gas storage facilities activities. As of December 31, 2023, it had electric transmission and distribution system of 25,000 circuit miles and 866,600 poles; 56 switching stations with an installed capacity of 39,953 megavolt-amperes (MVA), and 235 substations with an installed capacity of 10,382 MVA; 109 MVA aggregate installed capacity for substations; four electric distribution headquarters and five electric sub-headquarters; 18,000 miles of gas mains, 12 gas distribution headquarters, two sub-headquarters, and one meter shop, as well as 56 natural gas metering and regulating stations; and 158 MegaWatts defined conditions of installed PV solar capacity. Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated was founded in 1903 and is based in Newark, New Jersey.