Black Hills (BKH) Competitors

NiSource (NYSE:NI) and Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) are both utilities companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, community ranking, valuation, media sentiment, analyst recommendations and risk.

Is NI or BKH more profitable?

NiSource has a net margin of 14.23% compared to NiSource's net margin of 12.92%. Black Hills' return on equity of 9.56% beat NiSource's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
NiSource	14.23%	9.56%	2.69%
Black Hills	12.92%	8.37%	2.86%

Does the media prefer NI or BKH?

In the previous week, Black Hills had 1 more articles in the media than NiSource. MarketBeat recorded 10 mentions for Black Hills and 9 mentions for NiSource. Black Hills' average media sentiment score of 0.84 beat NiSource's score of 0.75 indicating that NiSource is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
NiSource	4 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Black Hills	5 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, NI or BKH?

NiSource has higher revenue and earnings than Black Hills. Black Hills is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than NiSource, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
NiSource	$5.51B	2.27	$714.30M	$1.53	18.24
Black Hills	$2.33B	1.62	$262.20M	$4.06	13.53

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in NI or BKH?

91.6% of NiSource shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.7% of Black Hills shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.1% of NiSource shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Black Hills shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor NI or BKH?

NiSource received 44 more outperform votes than Black Hills when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 59.42% of users gave Black Hills an outperform vote while only 54.10% of users gave NiSource an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
NiSource	Outperform Votes 416 54.10%	Underperform Votes 353 45.90%
Black Hills	Outperform Votes 372 59.42%	Underperform Votes 254 40.58%

Which has more risk & volatility, NI or BKH?

NiSource has a beta of 0.49, suggesting that its stock price is 51% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Black Hills has a beta of 0.64, suggesting that its stock price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts rate NI or BKH?

NiSource currently has a consensus target price of $29.71, suggesting a potential upside of 6.50%. Black Hills has a consensus target price of $54.80, suggesting a potential downside of 0.24%. Given Black Hills' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe NiSource is more favorable than Black Hills.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
NiSource	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Black Hills	1 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.80

Is NI or BKH a better dividend stock?

NiSource pays an annual dividend of $1.06 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. Black Hills pays an annual dividend of $2.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.7%. NiSource pays out 69.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Black Hills pays out 64.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. NiSource has increased its dividend for 13 consecutive years and Black Hills has increased its dividend for 54 consecutive years. Black Hills is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

NiSource beats Black Hills on 12 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.