Head to Head Survey: Altus Power (NYSE:AMPS) and PPL (NYSE:PPL)

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

77.0% of PPL shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 46.5% of Altus Power shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of PPL shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 24.3% of Altus Power shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

PPL has a beta of 0.82, suggesting that its stock price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Altus Power has a beta of 0.96, suggesting that its stock price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

PPL pays an annual dividend of $1.03 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Altus Power pays an annual dividend of $1.59 per share and has a dividend yield of 47.3%. PPL pays out 100.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Altus Power pays out -3,180.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Altus Power is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Profitability

This table compares PPL and Altus Power’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
PPL	10.17%	9.26%	3.30%
Altus Power	13.55%	2.52%	0.63%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for PPL and Altus Power, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
PPL	0	4	6	0	2.60
Altus Power	0	2	5	2	3.00

PPL presently has a consensus target price of $33.18, suggesting a potential upside of 2.22%. Altus Power has a consensus target price of $6.00, suggesting a potential upside of 78.57%. Given Altus Power’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Altus Power is more favorable than PPL.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares PPL and Altus Power”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
PPL	$8.26 billion	2.90	$740.00 million	$1.03	31.51
Altus Power	$172.39 million	3.13	-$9.35 million	($0.05)	-67.20

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

Summary

Altus Power beats PPL on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About PPL

PPL Corporation, an energy company, focuses on providing electricity and natural gas to approximately 3.6 million customers in the United States. It operates through three segments: Kentucky Regulated, Pennsylvania Regulated, and Rhode Island Regulated. The company delivers electricity to customers in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Virginia, and Rhode Island; delivers natural gas to customers in Kentucky and Rhode Island; and generates electricity from power plants in Kentucky. PPL Corporation was founded in 1920 and is headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

About Altus Power

Altus Power, Inc., a clean electrification company, develops, owns, constructs, and operates roof, ground, and carport-based photovoltaic solar energy generation and storage systems. It serves commercial, industrial, public sector, and community solar customers. Altus Power, Inc. was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut.