FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) & Commerce Energy Group (OTCMKTS:CMNR) Critical Review

Commerce Energy Group (OTCMKTS:CMNR) and FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) are both utilities companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Commerce Energy Group and FirstEnergy, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Commerce Energy Group	0	0	0	0	N/A
FirstEnergy	1	5	4	0	2.30

FirstEnergy has a consensus target price of $44.55, indicating a potential upside of 1.12%.

Risk & Volatility

Commerce Energy Group has a beta of -3.17, suggesting that its share price is 417% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, FirstEnergy has a beta of 0.5, suggesting that its share price is 50% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Commerce Energy Group and FirstEnergy”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Commerce Energy Group	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
FirstEnergy	$13.20 billion	1.92	$1.10 billion	$1.74	25.32

FirstEnergy has higher revenue and earnings than Commerce Energy Group.

Profitability

This table compares Commerce Energy Group and FirstEnergy’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Commerce Energy Group	N/A	N/A	N/A
FirstEnergy	6.61%	12.12%	3.00%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

89.4% of FirstEnergy shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of Commerce Energy Group shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of FirstEnergy shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

FirstEnergy beats Commerce Energy Group on 7 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Commerce Energy Group

Commerce Energy Group Inc. through its subsidiaries provides electric power and natural gas to residential, commercial, industrial and institutional customers in California, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Maryland, New Jersey, Texas, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, and Ohio. The company was founded in 1997 and is based in Costa Mesa, California.

About FirstEnergy

FirstEnergy Corp., through its subsidiaries, generates, transmits, and distributes electricity in the United States. It operates through Regulated Distribution and Regulated Transmission segments. The company owns and operates coal-fired, nuclear, hydroelectric, wind, and solar power generating facilities. It operates 24,080 circuit miles of overhead and underground transmission lines; and electric distribution systems, including 274,518 miles of overhead pole line and underground conduit carrying primary, secondary, and street lighting circuits. The company serves approximately 6 million customers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York. FirstEnergy Corp. was incorporated in 1996 and is headquartered in Akron, Ohio.