NorthWestern Energy vs Unitil
NWE and UTL side by side, both in combination electric and gas, and other utility. Figures are trailing twelve months unless noted, from SEC filings and end-of-day prices.
How NWE and UTL compare
NorthWestern Energy is the larger company, worth 5.1 times as much as Unitil ($5.2B against $1.0B).
On earnings, Unitil is cheaper: it trades at 18.1× trailing earnings, against 32.0× for NorthWestern Energy.
Unitil grew revenue faster over the last twelve months (21.1% versus 10.1% for NorthWestern Energy).
NorthWestern Energy keeps more of each dollar of sales as profit, with a net margin of 9.5% compared with 9.1% at Unitil.
Both pay dividends: NorthWestern Energy yields 3.1% and Unitil 2.6%.
Unitil scores higher on the StockData Score (10 against 3 for NorthWestern Energy), which adds up 30 checks on valuation, growth, past performance, financial health and dividends.
Key numbers
A dot marks the better figure where higher or lower is clearly better.
| Metric | NWE | UTL |
|---|---|---|
| Size and price | ||
| Market cap | $5.2B | $1.0B |
| Share price | $84.91 | $55.76 |
| Change, 1 year | 26.1% | 15.6% |
| Change, 5 years | 55.0% | 35.1% |
| Beta (5Y) | 0.35 | 0.25 |
| Employees | 1,667 | 595 |
| StockData Score | ||
| Total score | 3 | 10 (better) |
| Valuation score | 0 | 3 (better) |
| Growth score | 1 | 2 (better) |
| Performance score | 0 | 2 (better) |
| Health score | 0 | 0 |
| Dividend score | 2 | 3 (better) |
| Valuation | ||
| P/E | 32.0× | 18.1× (better) |
| P/S | 3.0× | 1.7× (better) |
| P/B | 1.8× | 1.6× (better) |
| EV/EBITDA | 15.4× (better) | 17.7× |
| PEG | – | 3.88 |
| FCF yield | −3.7% (better) | −3.9% |
| Fair value | $55.13 | $52.32 |
| Margin of safety | −54.0% | −6.6% (better) |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth (TTM) | 10.1% | 21.1% (better) |
| Revenue growth, 5Y average | – | 5.1% |
| Net income growth (TTM) | −24.5% | 18.4% (better) |
| EPS growth (TTM) | −24.9% | 6.6% (better) |
| EPS growth, 5Y average | – | 6.7% |
| Profitability | ||
| Operating margin | 18.1% | 18.6% (better) |
| Net margin | 9.5% (better) | 9.1% |
| FCF margin | −11.2% | −6.6% (better) |
| Return on equity | 5.7% | 9.0% (better) |
| Return on invested capital | 4.9% | 5.7% (better) |
| Financial health | ||
| Debt / equity | 1.27 (better) | 1.54 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 6.34 (better) | 8.66 |
| Current ratio | 0.90 (better) | 0.50 |
| Altman Z-score | 0.97 (better) | 0.82 |
| Piotroski F-score | 5 | 5 |
| Dividends and buybacks | ||
| Dividend yield | 3.1% (better) | 2.6% |
| Payout ratio | 99.8% | 61.0% |
| Years of dividend growth | 4 | 11 (better) |
| Dividend growth, 5Y average | – | 3.7% |
| Buyback yield | – | −1.7% |
| Shareholder yield | 3.1% (better) | 0.81% |
| Ownership | ||
| Held by institutions | 95.7% | 84.2% |
| Held by insiders | 0.92% | 0.71% |
| Short interest, % of float | 3.3% | 3.6% |
Go deeper
- NWE stock overview
- NWE income statement
- NWE valuation and score
- UTL stock overview
- UTL income statement
- UTL valuation and score
For information only, not investment advice. Check the source filings before relying on any figure.