Head to Head Review: Commerce Energy Group (OTCMKTS:CMNR) versus CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP)

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

91.8% of CenterPoint Energy shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of Commerce Energy Group shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of CenterPoint Energy shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Commerce Energy Group and CenterPoint Energy’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
CenterPoint Energy	11.25%	9.73%	2.41%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Commerce Energy Group and CenterPoint Energy”s top-line revenue, earnings per share 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
CenterPoint Energy	$8.70 billion	2.51	$917.00 million	$1.51	22.15

CenterPoint Energy has higher revenue and earnings than Commerce Energy Group.

Volatility and Risk

Commerce Energy Group has a beta of -3.17, suggesting that its stock price is 417% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CenterPoint Energy has a beta of 0.95, suggesting that its stock price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Commerce Energy Group and CenterPoint Energy, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Commerce Energy Group	0	0	0	0	0.00
CenterPoint Energy	1	8	3	0	2.17

CenterPoint Energy has a consensus target price of $31.46, suggesting a potential downside of 5.94%. Given Commerce Energy Group’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Commerce Energy Group is more favorable than CenterPoint Energy.

Summary

CenterPoint Energy beats Commerce Energy Group on 8 of the 10 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 CenterPoint Energy

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. operates as a public utility holding company in the United States. The company operates through two segments, Electric and Natural Gas. The Electric segment includes electric transmission and distribution services to electric customers and electric generation assets, as well as optimizes assets in the wholesale power market. The Natural Gas segment engages in the intrastate natural gas sales, and natural gas transportation and distribution for residential, commercial, industrial and institutional customers in Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Ohio, and Texas; permanent pipeline connections through interconnects with various interstate and intrastate pipeline companies; and provides maintenance and repair services of home appliances to customers in Minnesota and home repair protection plans to natural gas customers in Indiana, Mississippi, Ohio, and Texas through a third party. It serves approximately 2,534,730 metered customers; owned 348 substations with transformer capacity of 79,719 megavolt amperes; and owned and operated 217 miles of intrastate pipeline in Louisiana and Texas. The company was founded in 1866 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.