Comparing Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) and NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE)

NorthWestern (NASDAQ:NWE) and Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) are both utilities companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, dividends, valuation and earnings.

Profitability

This table compares NorthWestern and Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
NorthWestern	10.13%	8.03%	2.73%
Brookfield Infrastructure Partners	3.51%	2.63%	0.71%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares NorthWestern and Brookfield Infrastructure Partners”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
NorthWestern	$1.61 billion	2.83	$181.09 million	$2.77	26.77
Brookfield Infrastructure Partners	$25.06 billion	0.68	$771.00 million	$0.62	59.87

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

Risk and Volatility

NorthWestern has a beta of 0.3, meaning that its share price is 70% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has a beta of 1.06, meaning that its share price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations for NorthWestern and Brookfield Infrastructure Partners, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
NorthWestern	0	3	3	0	2.50
Brookfield Infrastructure Partners	0	3	8	0	2.73

NorthWestern presently has a consensus price target of $71.70, indicating a potential downside of 3.30%. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has a consensus price target of $45.33, indicating a potential upside of 22.14%. Given Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Brookfield Infrastructure Partners is more favorable than NorthWestern.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

96.1% of NorthWestern shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 57.9% of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of NorthWestern shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

NorthWestern pays an annual dividend of $2.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners pays an annual dividend of $1.82 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.9%. NorthWestern pays out 96.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners pays out 293.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. NorthWestern has raised its dividend for 21 consecutive years and Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has raised its dividend for 18 consecutive years.

Summary

NorthWestern beats Brookfield Infrastructure Partners on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About NorthWestern

NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. provides electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial, and various industrial customers. It generates, purchases, transmits, and distributes electricity; and produces, purchases, stores, transmits, and distributes natural gas, as well as owns municipal franchises to provide natural gas service in the communities. The company operates 6,600 miles of electric transmission and 18,674 miles of electric distribution lines with approximately 395 transmission and distribution substations; and 2,235 miles of natural gas transmission and 5,155 miles of natural gas distribution lines with approximately 133 city gate stations in Montana. It also operates 1,310 miles of electric transmission and 2,365 miles of electric distribution lines in South Dakota with approximately 124 transmission and distribution substations; and 55 miles of natural gas transmission and 2,573 miles of natural gas distribution lines in South Dakota and Nebraska. The company provides electricity and/or natural gas to approximately 775,300 customers in Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Yellowstone National Park. NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. was founded in 1923 and is based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

About Brookfield Infrastructure Partners

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. owns and operates utilities, transport, midstream, and data businesses in North and South America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. The company's Utilities segment operates approximately 2,900 km of electricity transmission lines; 4,200 km of natural gas pipelines; 8.1 million electricity and natural gas connections; and 0.6 million long-term contracted sub-metering services. This segment also offers heating, cooling, and energy solutions; gas distribution; water heaters; and heating, ventilation, and air conditioner rental, as well as other home services. Its Transport segment offers transportation, storage, and handling services for merchandise goods, commodities, and passengers through a network of approximately 22,000 km of track; 5,500 km of track network; 9,800 km of rail; and 3,300 km of motorways. The company's Midstream segment offers natural gas transmission, gathering and processing, and storage services through approximately 15,000 km of natural gas transmission pipelines; 570 billion cubic feet of natural gas storage; 17 natural gas processing plants; and 10,600 km of gas gathering pipelines, as well as 525,000 tonnes polypropylene production capacity. Its Data segment operates approximately 228,000 operational telecom towers; approximately 54,000 kilometers of fiber optic cables; approximately 1 million fiber-to-the-premise connections; two semiconductor manufacturing facilities; and 70 distributed antenna systems, as well as 135 data centers and 750 megawatts of critical load capacity and an additional approximate 670 megawatts of contracted capacity. The company was incorporated in 2007 and is based in Hamilton, Bermuda. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. operates as a subsidiary of Brookfield Corporation.