Ameren Corporation (AEE) vs PPL Corporation (PPL)

Ameren Corporation and PPL Corporation are both Utilities Regulated Electric companies. Ameren Corporation is the larger, with a market value of $27.5B against $24.1B — 1.1× the size. Ameren Corporation trades at the lower P/E: 17.3× against 18.8×. PPL Corporation grew revenue faster over the last twelve months: 6.72% against 3.76%. Ameren Corporation has the higher net margin (17.9% vs 13.5%) and the lower return on invested capital (3.95% vs 4.04%). Both pay a dividend; PPL Corporation yields more (3.74% vs 3.70%). Across the 22 metrics below, PPL Corporation leads on 12 and Ameren Corporation on 10.

Valuation

Metric AEE PPL Utilities Regulated Electric median
P/E 17.35 18.84 18.84
P/S 3.14 2.56 2.52
P/B 1.99 1.60 1.63
Price to free cash flow n/m n/m 36.22
EV/EBITDA 12.22 11.71 11.82
EV/Sales 5.50 4.69 4.58
Earnings yield 5.77% 5.31% 5.30%
Free cash flow yield (5.27%) (8.37%) (5.06%)

Profitability

Metric AEE PPL Utilities Regulated Electric median
Gross margin 73.71% 68.62% 66.28%
Operating margin 24.87% 24.10% 21.79%
Net margin 17.86% 13.45% 12.94%
Free cash flow margin (16.57%) (21.20%) (11.51%)
Return on equity 11.90% 8.62% 9.75%
Return on assets 3.19% 2.85% 2.75%
Return on invested capital 3.95% 4.04% 3.87%

Growth

Metric AEE PPL Utilities Regulated Electric median
Revenue growth (TTM) 3.76% 6.72% 7.43%
EPS growth (last fiscal year) 21.04% 32.50% —
Revenue growth, 5-year CAGR 8.72% 10.56% 6.75%
Net income growth, 5-year CAGR 10.82% (4.30%) 6.44%

Health

Metric AEE PPL Utilities Regulated Electric median
Debt to equity 1.49 1.35 1.53
Current ratio 0.53 0.91 0.81
Net debt to EBITDA 5.16 5.16 5.25

Dividend

Metric AEE PPL Utilities Regulated Electric median
Dividend yield 3.70% 3.74% 4.33%
Payout ratio 0.57 0.96 0.66

Size

Metric AEE PPL Utilities Regulated Electric median
Market cap 27.46b 24.06b 22.90b

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