Critical Survey: Enbridge (ENB) & Its Competitors

Enbridge (NYSE:ENB) is one of 1,050 publicly-traded companies in the “Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its competitors? We will compare Enbridge to similar companies based on the strength of its dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership and risk.

Profitability

This table compares Enbridge and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Enbridge	7.20%	11.17%	3.02%
Enbridge Competitors	-472.92%	19.47%	6.31%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for Enbridge and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Enbridge	0	5	9	1	2.73
Enbridge Competitors	5960	26925	40745	2403	2.52

Enbridge currently has a consensus target price of $65.88, indicating a potential upside of 33.27%. As a group, “Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels” companies have a potential upside of 16.89%. Given Enbridge’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Enbridge is more favorable than its competitors.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Enbridge and its competitors gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Enbridge	$46.66 billion	$5.36 billion	26.43
Enbridge Competitors	$10.76 billion	$5.51 billion	0.53

Enbridge has higher revenue, but lower earnings than its competitors. Enbridge is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Dividends

Enbridge pays an annual dividend of $2.75 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.6%. Enbridge pays out 147.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. As a group, “Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels” companies pay a dividend yield of 8.4% and pay out -119.8% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Enbridge has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years. Enbridge lags its competitors as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

54.6% of Enbridge shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 30.8% of shares of all “Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels” companies are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of Enbridge shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 15.3% of shares of all “Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels” companies are held by 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.

Risk and Volatility

Enbridge has a beta of 0.6, meaning that its stock price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Enbridge’s competitors have a beta of -4.03, meaning that their average stock price is 503% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Enbridge beats its competitors on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

About Enbridge

Enbridge Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy infrastructure company. The company operates through five segments: Liquids Pipelines, Gas Transmission and Midstream, Gas Distribution and Storage, Renewable Power Generation, and Energy Services. The Liquids Pipelines segment operates pipelines and related terminals to transport various grades of crude oil and other liquid hydrocarbons in Canada and the United States. The Gas Transmission and Midstream segment invests in natural gas pipelines and gathering and processing facilities in Canada and the United States. The Gas Distribution and Storage segment is involved in natural gas utility operations serving residential, commercial, and industrial customers in Ontario, as well as natural gas distribution activities in Quebec. The Renewable Power Generation segment operates power generating assets, such as wind, solar, geothermal, waste heat recovery, and transmission assets in North America. The Energy Services segment provides physical commodity marketing and logistical services to refiners, producers, and other customers in Canada and the United States. The company was formerly known as IPL Energy Inc. and changed its name to Enbridge Inc. in October 1998. Enbridge Inc. was founded in 1949 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.