Analyzing Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR) & Terna (OTCMKTS:TERRF)

Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR) and Terna (OTCMKTS:TERRF) are both utilities companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings and risk.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

20.2% of Terna shares are held by institutional investors. 0.5% of Portland General Electric shares are held by company 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 Portland General Electric and Terna’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Portland General Electric	7.80%	7.21%	2.20%
Terna	N/A	N/A	N/A

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Portland General Electric and Terna, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Portland General Electric	0	3	5	0	2.63
Terna	0	1	0	0	2.00

Portland General Electric currently has a consensus price target of $45.13, indicating a potential upside of 5.43%. Given Portland General Electric’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Portland General Electric is more favorable than Terna.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Portland General Electric and Terna’s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Portland General Electric	$2.92 billion	1.48	$228.00 million	$2.33	18.37
Terna	N/A	N/A	N/A	$0.26	29.45

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

Dividends

Portland General Electric pays an annual dividend of $1.90 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.4%. Terna pays an annual dividend of $0.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. Portland General Electric pays out 81.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Terna pays out 61.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Portland General Electric has increased its dividend for 18 consecutive years. Portland General Electric is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

Portland General Electric beats Terna on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Portland General Electric

Portland General Electric Company, an integrated electric utility company, engages in the generation, wholesale purchase, transmission, distribution, and retail sale of electricity in the state of Oregon. It operates six thermal plants, three wind farms, and seven hydroelectric facilities. As of December 31, 2023, the company owned an electric transmission system consisting of 1,254 circuit miles, including 287 circuit miles of 500 kilovolt line, 413 circuit miles of 230 kilovolt line, and 554 miles of 115 kilovolt line; and served 934 thousand retail customers in 51 cities. It also has 28,868 circuit miles of distribution lines. Portland General Electric Company was founded in 1889 and is headquartered in Portland, Oregon.

About Terna

Terna S.p.A., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the electricity transmission and dispatching activities in Italy, Euro-area countries, and internationally. The company operates through Regulated, Non-Regulated, and International segments. It is involved in the planning, development, management, operation, and maintenance of national transmission grid; dispatching and metering; and construction of storage systems. The company also offers connectivity services, energy solutions, telecommunications systems and equipment, and operation and maintenance services. In addition, it designs, produces, commercializes, and repairs power transformers for electricity transmission and distribution grids, industrial transformers for the steel and metals industries, and special transformers for convertors used in electrochemical production; designs, produces, and supplies marine and terrestrial cables; implements and develops renewable energy projects; and undertakes private interconnector projects. The company was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Rome, Italy.