Critical Comparison: Oklo (NYSE:OKLO) and NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG)

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) and Oklo (NYSE:OKLO) are both utilities companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for NRG Energy and Oklo, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
NRG Energy	0	2	5	0	2.71
Oklo	0	2	3	0	2.60

NRG Energy currently has a consensus target price of $111.43, indicating a potential upside of 7.35%. Oklo has a consensus target price of $32.50, indicating a potential downside of 23.97%. Given NRG Energy’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe NRG Energy is more favorable than Oklo.

Valuation & Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
NRG Energy	$28.82 billion	0.73	-$202.00 million	$3.98	26.08
Oklo	N/A	N/A	$11.87 million	N/A	N/A

Oklo has lower revenue, but higher earnings than NRG Energy.

Risk & Volatility

NRG Energy has a beta of 1.15, meaning that its stock price is 15% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Oklo has a beta of -0.51, meaning that its stock price is 151% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

97.7% of NRG Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 85.0% of Oklo shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of NRG Energy shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 21.8% of Oklo shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
NRG Energy	3.43%	48.96%	4.73%
Oklo	N/A	-32.11%	-13.72%

Summary

NRG Energy beats Oklo on 9 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Oklo

Oklo Inc. designs and develops fission power plants to provide reliable and commercial-scale energy to customers in the United States. It also provides used nuclear fuel recycling services. The company was founded in 2013 and is based in Santa Clara, California.