Financial Survey: Nextera Energy Partners (NYSE:NEP) and Vistra (NYSE:VST)

Nextera Energy Partners (NYSE:NEP) and Vistra (NYSE:VST) are both oils/energy companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Risk & Volatility

Nextera Energy Partners has a beta of 1.03, meaning that its share price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Vistra has a beta of 1.22, meaning that its share price is 22% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Nextera Energy Partners and Vistra’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Nextera Energy Partners	-0.73%	1.34%	0.85%
Vistra	12.51%	57.63%	6.02%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

66.0% of Nextera Energy Partners shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.9% of Vistra shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of Nextera Energy Partners shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.4% of Vistra shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Nextera Energy Partners and Vistra, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Nextera Energy Partners	2	0	0	0	1.00
Vistra	0	1	10	0	2.91

Nextera Energy Partners currently has a consensus target price of $10.00, indicating a potential upside of 0.00%. Vistra has a consensus target price of $171.64, indicating a potential upside of 2.46%. Given Vistra’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Vistra is more favorable than Nextera Energy Partners.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Nextera Energy Partners and Vistra”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Nextera Energy Partners	$1.23 billion	0.00	-$10.00 million	($0.10)	N/A
Vistra	$14.78 billion	3.86	$1.49 billion	$5.36	31.25

Vistra has higher revenue and earnings than Nextera Energy Partners. Nextera Energy Partners is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Vistra, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

Nextera Energy Partners pays an annual dividend of $3.67 per share. Vistra pays an annual dividend of $0.89 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. Nextera Energy Partners pays out -3,670.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Vistra pays out 16.6% 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.

Summary

Vistra beats Nextera Energy Partners on 14 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Nextera Energy Partners

NextEra Energy Partners LP engages in the acquisition, management, and ownership of contracted clean energy projects with long-term cash flows. It owns interests in wind and solar projects in North America and natural gas infrastructure assets in Texas. The company was founded on March 6, 2014 and is headquartered in Juno Beach, FL.

About Vistra

Vistra Corp., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated retail electricity and power generation company. The company operates through six segments: Retail, Texas, East, West, Sunset, and Asset Closure. It retails electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial, and industrial customers across states in the United States and the District of Columbia. In addition, the company is involved in the electricity generation, wholesale energy purchases and sales, commodity risk management, fuel production, and fuel logistics management activities. It serves approximately 4 million customers with a generation capacity of approximately 37,000 megawatts with a portfolio of natural gas, nuclear, coal, solar, and battery energy storage facilities. The company was formerly known as Vistra Energy Corp. and changed its name to Vistra Corp. in July 2020. Vistra Corp. was founded in 1882 and is based in Irving, Texas.