Head to Head Analysis: EDP – Energias de Portugal (OTCMKTS:ELCPF) and DTE Energy (NYSE:DTE)

DTE Energy (NYSE:DTE) and EDP – Energias de Portugal (OTCMKTS:ELCPF) are both utilities companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, profitability, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares DTE Energy and EDP – Energias de Portugal’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
DTE Energy	8.00%	12.19%	2.74%
EDP – Energias de Portugal	N/A	N/A	N/A

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for DTE Energy and EDP – Energias de Portugal, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
DTE Energy	0	5	9	1	2.73
EDP – Energias de Portugal	0	1	1	0	2.50

DTE Energy currently has a consensus target price of $158.46, indicating a potential upside of 11.64%. Given DTE Energy’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe DTE Energy is more favorable than EDP – Energias de Portugal.

Dividends

DTE Energy pays an annual dividend of $4.66 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. EDP – Energias de Portugal pays an annual dividend of $0.13 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. DTE Energy pays out 73.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. EDP – Energias de Portugal pays out 48.4% 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. DTE Energy has increased its dividend for 16 consecutive years. DTE Energy is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

76.1% of DTE Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 31.6% of EDP – Energias de Portugal shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of DTE Energy shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares DTE Energy and EDP – Energias de Portugal”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
DTE Energy	$15.81 billion	1.87	$1.46 billion	$6.32	22.46
EDP – Energias de Portugal	N/A	N/A	N/A	$0.28	17.91

DTE Energy has higher revenue and earnings than EDP – Energias de Portugal. EDP – Energias de Portugal is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than DTE Energy, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

DTE Energy beats EDP – Energias de Portugal on 14 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About DTE Energy

DTE Energy Company engages in the utility operations. The company's Electric segment generates, purchases, distributes, and sells electricity to various residential, commercial, and industrial customers in southeastern Michigan. It generates electricity through coal-fired plants, hydroelectric pumped storage, and nuclear plants, as well as wind and solar assets. This segment owns and operates distribution substations and line transformers. The company's Gas segment purchases, stores, transports, distributes, and sells natural gas to various residential, commercial, and industrial customers throughout Michigan; and sells storage and transportation capacity. Its DTE Vantage segment offers metallurgical and petroleum coke to steel and other industries; and power generation, steam production, chilled water production, and wastewater treatment services, as well as air supplies compressed air to industrial customers. Its Energy Trading segment engages in power, natural gas, and environmental marketing and trading; structured transactions; and the optimization of contracted natural gas pipeline transportation and storage positions. The company was founded in 1849 and is based in Detroit, Michigan.

About EDP – Energias de Portugal

EDP – Energias de Portugal, S.A. engages in the generation, transmission, distribution, and supply of electricity in Portugal, Spain, France, Poland, Romania, Italy, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Greece, Colombia, Brazil, North America, and internationally. It operates through Renewables, Networks, and Client Solutions & Energy Management segments. The company primarily generates and sells electricity through hydro, CCGT, coal, wind, solar, nuclear, and cogeneration and waste sources. It has an installed capacity of 28 GW; and operates 380,788 kilometers of distribution network lines. The company is also involved in the supply of natural gas. In addition, it offers engineering, laboratory tests, professional training, and energy services, as well as property management services. The company's electricity and gas customers include domestic, industrial, commercial, agricultural, and others. The company was incorporated in 1976 and is headquartered in Lisbon, Portugal.