Financial Review: Commerce Energy Group (OTCMKTS:CMNR) & CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP)

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) and Commerce Energy Group (OTCMKTS:CMNR) are both utilities companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, dividends and profitability.

Profitability

This table compares CenterPoint Energy and Commerce Energy Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CenterPoint Energy	11.25%	9.73%	2.41%
Commerce Energy Group	N/A	N/A	N/A

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for CenterPoint Energy and Commerce Energy Group, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CenterPoint Energy	1	8	3	0	2.17
Commerce Energy Group	0	0	0	0	0.00

CenterPoint Energy presently has a consensus price target of $31.46, suggesting a potential downside of 6.89%. Given Commerce Energy Group’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Commerce Energy Group is more favorable than CenterPoint Energy.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares CenterPoint Energy and Commerce Energy Group”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CenterPoint Energy	$8.70 billion	2.53	$917.00 million	$1.51	22.37
Commerce Energy Group	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

CenterPoint Energy has higher revenue and earnings than Commerce Energy Group.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

91.8% of CenterPoint Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of CenterPoint Energy shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Commerce Energy Group shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

CenterPoint Energy beats Commerce Energy Group on 7 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About CenterPoint Energy

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. operates as a public utility holding company in the United States. The company operates through two segments, Electric and Natural Gas. The Electric segment includes electric transmission and distribution services to electric customers and electric generation assets, as well as optimizes assets in the wholesale power market. The Natural Gas segment engages in the intrastate natural gas sales, and natural gas transportation and distribution for residential, commercial, industrial and institutional customers in Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Ohio, and Texas; permanent pipeline connections through interconnects with various interstate and intrastate pipeline companies; and provides maintenance and repair services of home appliances to customers in Minnesota and home repair protection plans to natural gas customers in Indiana, Mississippi, Ohio, and Texas through a third party. It serves approximately 2,534,730 metered customers; owned 348 substations with transformer capacity of 79,719 megavolt amperes; and owned and operated 217 miles of intrastate pipeline in Louisiana and Texas. The company was founded in 1866 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

About Commerce Energy Group

Commerce Energy Group Inc. through its subsidiaries provides electric power and natural gas to residential, commercial, industrial and institutional customers in California, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Maryland, New Jersey, Texas, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, and Ohio. The company was founded in 1997 and is based in Costa Mesa, California.