Reviewing NiSource (NYSE:NI) and Korea Electric Power (NYSE:KEP)

NiSource (NYSE:NI) and Korea Electric Power (NYSE:KEP) are both large-cap utilities companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk and dividends.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares NiSource and Korea Electric Power”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
NiSource	$6.64 billion	3.47	$929.50 million	$2.01	23.92
Korea Electric Power	$68.57 billion	0.23	$5.98 billion	$4.78	2.59

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

91.6% of NiSource shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.4% of NiSource shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Korea Electric Power shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares NiSource and Korea Electric Power’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
NiSource	14.15%	8.31%	2.70%
Korea Electric Power	8.95%	18.25%	3.45%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for NiSource and Korea Electric Power, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
NiSource	0	3	7	1	2.82
Korea Electric Power	1	3	0	0	1.75

NiSource presently has a consensus target price of $50.33, indicating a potential upside of 4.69%. Given NiSource’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe NiSource is more favorable than Korea Electric Power.

Dividends

NiSource pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Korea Electric Power pays an annual dividend of $0.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.2%. NiSource pays out 59.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Korea Electric Power pays out 10.9% 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. NiSource has raised its dividend for 14 consecutive years. Korea Electric Power is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Risk & Volatility

NiSource has a beta of 0.55, indicating that its stock price is 45% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Korea Electric Power has a beta of 0.93, indicating that its stock price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500.

About NiSource

NiSource Inc., an energy holding company, operates as a regulated natural gas and electric utility company in the United States. It operates in two segments, Gas Distribution Operations and Electric Operations. The company distributes natural gas to approximately 3.3 million customers through approximately 55,000 miles of distribution main pipeline and the associated individual customer service lines; and 1,000 miles of transmission main pipeline in northern Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Kentucky, and Maryland. It also generates, transmits, and distributes electricity to approximately 0.5 million customers in various counties in the northern part of Indiana, as well as engages in wholesale electric and transmission transactions. It owns and operates coal-fired electric generating stations in Wheatfield and Michigan City; combined cycle gas turbine in West Terre Haute; natural gas generating units in Wheatfield; hydro generating plants in Carroll County and White County; wind generating units in White County, Indiana; and solar generating units in Jasper County and White County. The company was formerly known as NIPSCO Industries, Inc. and changed its name to NiSource Inc. in April 1999. NiSource Inc. was founded in 1847 and is headquartered in Merrillville, Indiana.

About Korea Electric Power

Korea Electric Power Corporation, an integrated electric utility company, engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity in South Korea and internationally. The company operates through Transmission and Distribution, Nuclear Power Generation, Thermal Power Generation, and Others segments. It generates power from nuclear, coal, oil, liquefied natural gas, internal combustion, combined-cycle, integrated gasification combined cycle, hydro, wind, solar, fuel cell, biogas, and other sources. As of December 31, 2022, the company had a total of 770 generation units, including nuclear, thermal, hydroelectric, and internal combustion units with an installed generation capacity of 82,723 megawatts; transmission system consisted of 35,451 circuit kilometers of lines of 765 kilovolts and others, including high-voltage direct current lines, as well as 895 substations with an installed transformer capacity of 347,426 megavolt-amperes; and distribution system included 139,265 megavolt-amperes of transformer capacity and 10,084,051 units of support with a total line length of 535,241 circuit kilometers. The company provides electricity to residential, commercial, educational, industrial, agricultural, street lighting, and overnight power usage. It also provides engineering and construction services for utility plant and others; utility plant maintenance, electric power information technology, resources development, facility maintenance, electric meter reading, and security services; and engages in nuclear fuel, fly ashes recycling, utility plants construction and operation, and wood pellet utilization businesses. Korea Electric Power Corporation was founded in 1898 and is headquartered in Naju-si, South Korea.