Comparing Northland Power (OTCMKTS:NPIFF) & Spruce Power (NYSE:SPRU)

Spruce Power (NYSE:SPRU) and Northland Power (OTCMKTS:NPIFF) are both utilities companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings and valuation.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

20.8% of Spruce Power shares are held by institutional investors. 11.2% of Spruce Power shares are held by company 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 & Valuation

This table compares Spruce Power and Northland Power”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Spruce Power	$111.81 million	0.22	-$26.03 million	($0.45)	-2.89
Northland Power	$1.74 billion	2.32	-$116.84 million	($0.41)	-37.78

Spruce Power has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Northland Power. Northland Power is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Spruce Power, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk & Volatility

Spruce Power has a beta of 1.31, meaning that its stock price is 31% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Northland Power has a beta of 0.1, meaning that its stock price is 90% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Spruce Power and Northland Power’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Spruce Power	-6.76%	-5.94%	-0.87%
Northland Power	-5.60%	10.29%	3.31%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Spruce Power and Northland Power, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Spruce Power	1	0	0	0	1.00
Northland Power	0	3	4	0	2.57

Summary

Northland Power beats Spruce Power on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Spruce Power

Spruce Power Holding Corporation owns and operates distributed solar energy assets in the United States. The company provides subscription-based services for homeowners and businesses to own and maintain rooftop solar and battery storage. It offers its subscription-based services to approximately 75,000 customers. The company is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.

About Northland Power

Northland Power Inc., an independent power producer, develops, builds, owns, and operates clean and green power projects in Canada, Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Colombia, and internationally. The company produces electricity from renewable resources, such as wind and solar, as well as natural gas for sale under power purchase agreements and other revenue arrangements. It owned or had an economic interest 3.4 gigawatts of operating generating capacity. The company was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.