Hallador Energy (NASDAQ:HNRG – Get Free Report) and CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP – Get Free Report) are both energy companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, dividends, valuation, institutional ownership and earnings.
Dividends
Hallador Energy pays an annual dividend of $0.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. CenterPoint Energy pays an annual dividend of $0.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Hallador Energy pays out -2.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. CenterPoint Energy pays out 55.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.
Profitability
This table compares Hallador Energy and CenterPoint Energy’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Hallador Energy | -4.85% | -6.71% | -3.39% |
| CenterPoint Energy | 11.79% | 10.02% | 2.48% |
Valuation & Earnings
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Hallador Energy | $404.39 million | 1.51 | $44.79 million | ($5.73) | -2.51 |
| CenterPoint Energy | $8.64 billion | 2.80 | $917.00 million | $1.59 | 23.36 |
CenterPoint Energy has higher revenue and earnings than Hallador Energy. Hallador Energy is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than CenterPoint Energy, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Insider and Institutional Ownership
61.4% of Hallador Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.8% of CenterPoint Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. 32.3% of Hallador Energy shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of CenterPoint Energy shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Volatility and Risk
Hallador Energy has a beta of 0.18, meaning that its share price is 82% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CenterPoint Energy has a beta of 0.65, meaning that its share price is 35% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Hallador Energy and CenterPoint Energy, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Hallador Energy | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3.00 |
| CenterPoint Energy | 1 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 2.29 |
Hallador Energy currently has a consensus price target of $16.00, suggesting a potential upside of 11.34%. CenterPoint Energy has a consensus price target of $34.46, suggesting a potential downside of 7.22%. Given Hallador Energy’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Hallador Energy is more favorable than CenterPoint Energy.
Summary
CenterPoint Energy beats Hallador Energy on 12 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Hallador Energy
Hallador Energy Company, through its subsidiaries, engages in the production of steam coal in the State of Indiana for the electric power generation industry. The company owns the Oaktown Mine 1 and Oaktown Mine 2 underground mines in Oaktown; Freelandville Center Pit surface mine in Freelandville; and Prosperity Surface mine in Petersburg, Indiana. It is also involved in gas exploration activities in Indiana; and operation of logistics transport facility. Hallador Energy Company was founded in 1949 and is headquartered in Terre Haute, Indiana.
About CenterPoint Energy
CenterPoint Energy, Inc. operates as a public utility holding company in the United States. The company operates through two segments, Electric and Natural Gas. The Electric segment includes electric transmission and distribution services to electric customers and electric generation assets, as well as optimizes assets in the wholesale power market. The Natural Gas segment engages in the intrastate natural gas sales, and natural gas transportation and distribution for residential, commercial, industrial and institutional customers in Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Ohio, and Texas; permanent pipeline connections through interconnects with various interstate and intrastate pipeline companies; and provides maintenance and repair services of home appliances to customers in Minnesota and home repair protection plans to natural gas customers in Indiana, Mississippi, Ohio, and Texas through a third party. It serves approximately 2,534,730 metered customers; owned 348 substations with transformer capacity of 79,719 megavolt amperes; and owned and operated 217 miles of intrastate pipeline in Louisiana and Texas. The company was founded in 1866 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.
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