Northwest Natural vs Southwest Gas
NWN and SWX side by side, both in gas production and distribution. Figures are trailing twelve months unless noted, from SEC filings and end-of-day prices.
How NWN and SWX compare
Southwest Gas is the larger company, worth 3.2 times as much as Northwest Natural ($6.7B against $2.1B).
On earnings, Southwest Gas is cheaper: it trades at 12.3× trailing earnings, against 16.6× for Northwest Natural.
Both pay dividends: Northwest Natural yields 3.9% and Southwest Gas 2.7%.
Southwest Gas scores higher on the StockData Score (13 against 11 for Northwest Natural), 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 | NWN | SWX |
|---|---|---|
| Size and price | ||
| Market cap | $2.1B | $6.7B |
| Share price | $49.93 | $93.08 |
| Change, 1 year | 8.5% | 16.4% |
| Change, 5 years | 6.2% | 30.8% |
| Beta (5Y) | 0.29 | 0.41 |
| Employees | 40 | 1,753 |
| StockData Score | ||
| Total score | 11 | 13 (better) |
| Valuation score | 5 | 6 (better) |
| Growth score | 1 | 1 |
| Performance score | 2 | 2 |
| Health score | 0 | 2 (better) |
| Dividend score | 3 (better) | 2 |
| Valuation | ||
| P/E | 16.6× | 12.3× (better) |
| P/S | 1.6× | – |
| P/B | 1.3× (better) | 1.6× |
| EV/EBITDA | 10.1× (better) | 11.8× |
| PEG | 5.68 | – |
| FCF yield | −12.7% | −7.8% (better) |
| Fair value | $56.93 | $134.23 |
| Margin of safety | 12.3% | 30.7% (better) |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth (TTM) | 4.4% | – |
| Revenue growth, 5Y average | 10.8% (better) | −10.1% |
| Net income growth (TTM) | 22.0% | 228% (better) |
| EPS growth (TTM) | 18.6% | 228% (better) |
| EPS growth, 5Y average | 2.0% | 8.0% (better) |
| Profitability | ||
| Operating margin | 22.8% | – |
| Net margin | 9.7% | – |
| FCF margin | −20.6% | – |
| Return on equity | 8.3% | 14.1% (better) |
| Return on invested capital | 5.9% (better) | 4.5% |
| Financial health | ||
| Debt / equity | 1.68 | 0.85 (better) |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 5.56 | 3.83 (better) |
| Current ratio | 0.77 | 1.12 (better) |
| Altman Z-score | 0.69 | 0.96 (better) |
| Piotroski F-score | 5 | 5 |
| Dividends and buybacks | ||
| Dividend yield | 3.9% (better) | 2.7% |
| Payout ratio | 62.7% | 33.1% |
| Years of dividend growth | 9 (better) | 0 |
| Dividend growth, 5Y average | 0.52% (better) | −74.5% |
| Buyback yield | −2.2% | −0.29% (better) |
| Shareholder yield | 1.8% | 2.4% (better) |
| Ownership | ||
| Held by institutions | 80.9% | 93.1% |
| Held by insiders | 0.62% | 10.8% |
| Insider net buying, 12 months | −$669K | −$450K (better) |
| Short interest, % of float | 4.5% | 4.4% |
Go deeper
- NWN stock overview
- NWN income statement
- NWN valuation and score
- SWX stock overview
- SWX income statement
- SWX valuation and score
For information only, not investment advice. Check the source filings before relying on any figure.