Vistra (NYSE:VST) and Spruce Power (NYSE:SPRU) Critical Comparison

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Vistra and Spruce Power, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Vistra	0	1	10	0	2.91
Spruce Power	0	0	0	0	0.00

Vistra presently has a consensus price target of $171.64, indicating a potential upside of 2.41%. Given Vistra’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Vistra is more favorable than Spruce Power.

Profitability

This table compares Vistra and Spruce Power’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Vistra	12.51%	57.63%	6.02%
Spruce Power	-121.98%	-23.98%	-5.48%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

90.9% of Vistra shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 20.8% of Spruce Power shares are held by institutional investors. 1.4% of Vistra shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 9.6% of Spruce Power shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Vistra and Spruce Power”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Vistra	$14.78 billion	3.86	$1.49 billion	$5.36	31.27
Spruce Power	$77.58 million	0.61	-$65.83 million	($5.06)	-0.50

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

Volatility and Risk

Vistra has a beta of 1.22, meaning that its share price is 22% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Spruce Power has a beta of 1.14, meaning that its share price is 14% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Vistra beats Spruce Power on 13 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Spruce Power

Spruce Power Holding Corporation owns and operates distributed solar energy assets in the United States. The company provides subscription-based services for homeowners and businesses to own and maintain rooftop solar and battery storage. It offers its subscription-based services to approximately 75,000 customers. The company is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.