Northwest Natural Gas Company (NWN) vs Spire Inc. (SR)

Northwest Natural Gas Company and Spire Inc. are both Utilities Regulated Gas companies. Spire Inc. is the larger, with a market value of $4.5B against $2.0B — 2.3× the size. Spire Inc. trades at the lower P/E: 8.6× against 15.7×. Spire Inc. grew revenue faster over the last twelve months: 17.0% against 4.41%. Spire Inc. has the higher net margin (19.8% vs 9.75%) and the lower return on invested capital (3.76% vs 4.44%). Both pay a dividend; Northwest Natural Gas Company yields more (5.49% vs 5.17%). Across the 22 metrics below, Northwest Natural Gas Company leads on 11 and Spire Inc. on 11.

Valuation

Metric NWN SR Utilities Regulated Gas median
P/E 15.66 8.59 15.65
P/S 1.53 1.70 2.04
P/B 1.27 1.27 1.50
Price to free cash flow n/m n/m —
EV/EBITDA 9.32 11.49 11.49
EV/Sales 3.54 3.93 3.54
Earnings yield 6.39% 11.64% 6.39%
Free cash flow yield (13.44%) (4.88%) (5.71%)

Profitability

Metric NWN SR Utilities Regulated Gas median
Gross margin 70.76% 65.44% 63.14%
Operating margin 22.85% 21.47% 21.47%
Net margin 9.75% 19.81% 13.00%
Free cash flow margin (20.57%) (8.30%) (13.27%)
Return on equity 8.35% 15.57% 9.47%
Return on assets 2.06% 4.17% 3.80%
Return on invested capital 4.44% 3.76% 4.29%

Growth

Metric NWN SR Utilities Regulated Gas median
Revenue growth (TTM) 4.41% 16.97% 6.36%
EPS growth (last fiscal year) 36.45% 4.30% —
Revenue growth, 5-year CAGR 10.75% 5.94% 6.36%
Net income growth, 5-year CAGR 8.10% 28.34% 8.10%

Health

Metric NWN SR Utilities Regulated Gas median
Debt to equity 1.68 1.67 1.22
Current ratio 0.77 0.37 0.78
Net debt to EBITDA 5.46 4.68 4.68

Dividend

Metric NWN SR Utilities Regulated Gas median
Dividend yield 5.49% 5.17% 4.31%
Payout ratio 0.69 0.66 0.62

Size

Metric NWN SR Utilities Regulated Gas median
Market cap 1.99b 4.54b 4.52b

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