Edison International (EIX) and The Competition Financial Analysis

Edison International (NYSE:EIX) is one of 105 publicly-traded companies in the “Electric Utilities” industry, but how does it compare to its peers? We will compare Edison International to similar companies based on the strength of its dividends, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation and earnings.

Profitability

This table compares Edison International and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Edison International	20.50%	14.17%	2.82%
Edison International Competitors	14.14%	9.68%	3.20%

Dividends

Edison International pays an annual dividend of $3.51 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.9%. Edison International pays out 37.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Electric Utilities” companies pay a dividend yield of 3.2% and pay out 64.3% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Edison International has increased its dividend for 23 consecutive years. Edison International is clearly a better dividend stock than its peers, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Edison International and its peers, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Edison International	4	10	1	0	1.80
Edison International Competitors	1434	6560	5533	145	2.32

Edison International currently has a consensus target price of $60.58, indicating a potential upside of 2.20%. As a group, “Electric Utilities” companies have a potential upside of 5.26%. Given Edison International’s peers stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Edison International has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Edison International and its peers revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Edison International	$19.32 billion	$4.70 billion	6.30
Edison International Competitors	$14.11 billion	$1.54 billion	20.07

Edison International has higher revenue and earnings than its peers. Edison International is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

89.0% of Edison International shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 60.0% of shares of all “Electric Utilities” companies are owned by institutional investors. 1.2% of Edison International shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.2% of shares of all “Electric Utilities” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Edison International has a beta of 0.56, meaning that its stock price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Edison International’s peers have a beta of -2.14, meaning that their average stock price is 314% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Edison International beats its peers on 8 of the 15 factors compared.

About Edison International

Edison International, through its subsidiaries, engages in the generation and distribution of electric power. The company supplies and delivers electricity to approximately 50,000 square mile area of southern California to residential, commercial, industrial, public authorities, agricultural, and other sectors. Its transmission facilities consist of lines ranging from 55 kV to 500 kV and approximately 80 transmission substations; distribution system consists of approximately 38,000 circuit-miles of overhead lines; approximately 31,000 circuit-miles of underground lines; and 730 distribution substations. The company was founded in 1886 and is based in Rosemead, California.