Contrasting SolarBank (NASDAQ:SUUN) and Ameren (NYSE:AEE)

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) and SolarBank (NASDAQ:SUUN) are both utilities companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, risk, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings for Ameren and SolarBank, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ameren	0	3	7	1	2.82
SolarBank	0	0	2	0	3.00

Ameren presently has a consensus target price of $99.22, suggesting a potential upside of 0.94%. SolarBank has a consensus target price of $6.00, suggesting a potential upside of 169.06%. Given SolarBank’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe SolarBank is more favorable than Ameren.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

79.1% of Ameren shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.4% of Ameren shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Ameren and SolarBank”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ameren	$7.62 billion	3.48	$1.18 billion	$4.42	22.24
SolarBank	$52.15 million	1.38	-$2.56 million	($0.22)	-10.14

Ameren has higher revenue and earnings than SolarBank. SolarBank is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ameren, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Ameren and SolarBank’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ameren	15.51%	10.34%	2.86%
SolarBank	-10.64%	-15.19%	-6.41%

Summary

Ameren beats SolarBank on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ameren

Ameren Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a public utility holding company in the United States. The company operates through four segments: Ameren Missouri, Ameren Illinois Electric Distribution, Ameren Illinois Natural Gas, and Ameren Transmission. It engages in the rate-regulated electric generation, transmission, and distribution activities; and rate-regulated natural gas distribution business. In addition, the company generates electricity through coal, nuclear, and natural gas, as well as renewable sources, such as hydroelectric, wind, methane gas, and solar. It serves residential, commercial, and industrial customers. The company was founded in 1881 and is headquartered in Saint Louis, Missouri.

About SolarBank

SolarBank Corporation operates as an independent renewable and clean energy project developer and asset operator in Canada and the United States. The company engages in the site origination, development, financing, engineering, procurement, construction, operation, maintenance, and asset management of solar photovoltaic power generation projects. It offers solar energy solutions in the areas of behind-the-meter solar power plants, electricity grid connected community solar gardens, and utility scale solar farms. The company was formerly known as Abundant Solar Energy Inc. and changed its name to SolarBank Corporation in October 2022. SolarBank Corporation was incorporated in 2013 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.