Northwest Natural Gas Company (NWN) vs Southwest Gas Corporation (SWX)

Northwest Natural Gas Company and Southwest Gas Corporation are both Utilities Regulated Gas companies. Southwest Gas Corporation is the larger, with a market value of $6.2B against $2.0B — 3.1× the size. Southwest Gas Corporation trades at the lower P/E: 11.4× against 16.3×. Southwest Gas Corporation grew revenue faster over the last twelve months: 103.7% against 4.41%. Southwest Gas Corporation has the higher net margin (31.4% vs 9.75%) and the lower return on invested capital (4.24% vs 4.44%). Both pay a dividend; Northwest Natural Gas Company yields more (4.01% vs 2.88%). Across the 22 metrics below, Southwest Gas Corporation leads on 14 and Northwest Natural Gas Company on 8.

Valuation

Metric NWN SWX Utilities Regulated Gas median
P/E 16.34 11.44 16.49
P/S 1.60 3.66 2.17
P/B 1.32 1.54 1.58
Price to free cash flow n/m n/m —
EV/EBITDA 9.49 11.37 11.86
EV/Sales 3.61 5.52 3.61
Earnings yield 6.12% 8.74% 6.01%
Free cash flow yield (12.88%) (8.30%) (5.24%)

Profitability

Metric NWN SWX Utilities Regulated Gas median
Gross margin 70.76% 85.21% 63.14%
Operating margin 22.85% 28.68% 21.47%
Net margin 9.75% 31.40% 13.00%
Free cash flow margin (20.57%) (30.32%) (13.27%)
Return on equity 8.35% 13.27% 9.47%
Return on assets 2.06% 4.82% 3.80%
Return on invested capital 4.44% 4.24% 4.29%

Growth

Metric NWN SWX Utilities Regulated Gas median
Revenue growth (TTM) 4.41% 103.66% 6.36%
EPS growth (last fiscal year) 36.45% 120.29% 14.04%
Revenue growth, 5-year CAGR 10.75% (10.07%) 6.36%
Net income growth, 5-year CAGR 8.10% 13.62% 8.10%

Health

Metric NWN SWX Utilities Regulated Gas median
Debt to equity 1.68 0.85 1.22
Current ratio 0.77 1.12 0.78
Net debt to EBITDA 5.46 3.64 4.68

Dividend

Metric NWN SWX Utilities Regulated Gas median
Dividend yield 4.01% 2.88% 3.63%
Payout ratio 0.66 0.33 0.58

Size

Metric NWN SWX Utilities Regulated Gas median
Market cap 2.04b 6.24b 4.69b

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