Ameren Corporation (AEE) vs Xcel Energy Inc. (XEL)

Ameren Corporation and Xcel Energy Inc. are both Utilities Regulated Electric companies. Xcel Energy Inc. is the larger, with a market value of $43.4B against $27.5B — 1.6× the size. Ameren Corporation trades at the lower P/E: 17.3× against 19.0×. Xcel Energy Inc. grew revenue faster over the last twelve months: 4.72% against 3.76%. Ameren Corporation has the higher net margin (17.9% vs 15.3%) and the higher return on invested capital (3.95% vs 2.83%). Both pay a dividend; Xcel Energy Inc. yields more (3.79% vs 3.70%). Across the 22 metrics below, Ameren Corporation leads on 17 and Xcel Energy Inc. on 5.

Valuation

Metric AEE XEL Utilities Regulated Electric median
P/E 17.35 19.02 18.84
P/S 3.14 2.98 2.52
P/B 1.99 1.81 1.63
Price to free cash flow n/m n/m 36.22
EV/EBITDA 12.22 13.89 11.82
EV/Sales 5.50 5.55 4.58
Earnings yield 5.77% 5.26% 5.30%
Free cash flow yield (5.27%) (17.63%) (5.06%)

Profitability

Metric AEE XEL Utilities Regulated Electric median
Gross margin 73.71% 67.57% 66.28%
Operating margin 24.87% 19.08% 21.79%
Net margin 17.86% 15.28% 12.94%
Free cash flow margin (16.57%) (52.63%) (11.51%)
Return on equity 11.90% 9.92% 9.75%
Return on assets 3.19% 2.75% 2.75%
Return on invested capital 3.95% 2.83% 3.87%

Growth

Metric AEE XEL Utilities Regulated Electric median
Revenue growth (TTM) 3.76% 4.72% 7.43%
EPS growth (last fiscal year) 21.04% (0.58%) —
Revenue growth, 5-year CAGR 8.72% 4.94% 6.75%
Net income growth, 5-year CAGR 10.82% 6.50% 6.44%

Health

Metric AEE XEL Utilities Regulated Electric median
Debt to equity 1.49 1.64 1.53
Current ratio 0.53 0.70 0.81
Net debt to EBITDA 5.16 5.93 5.25

Dividend

Metric AEE XEL Utilities Regulated Electric median
Dividend yield 3.70% 3.79% 4.33%
Payout ratio 0.57 0.64 0.66

Size

Metric AEE XEL Utilities Regulated Electric median
Market cap 27.46b 43.36b 22.90b

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