Reviewing NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) and SolarBank (NASDAQ:SUUN)

NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) and SolarBank (NASDAQ:SUUN) are both utilities companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for NorthWestern Energy Group and SolarBank, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
NorthWestern Energy Group	0	2	5	0	2.71
SolarBank	0	0	2	0	3.00

NorthWestern Energy Group currently has a consensus price target of $60.25, indicating a potential upside of 7.32%. SolarBank has a consensus price target of $6.00, indicating a potential upside of 197.03%. Given SolarBank’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe SolarBank is more favorable than NorthWestern Energy Group.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
NorthWestern Energy Group	14.81%	7.40%	2.68%
SolarBank	-10.64%	-15.19%	-6.41%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

96.1% of NorthWestern Energy Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of NorthWestern Energy Group shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares NorthWestern Energy Group and SolarBank”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
NorthWestern Energy Group	$1.51 billion	2.29	$224.11 million	$3.84	14.62
SolarBank	$52.15 million	1.25	-$2.56 million	($0.22)	-9.18

NorthWestern Energy Group has higher revenue and earnings than SolarBank. SolarBank is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than NorthWestern Energy Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

NorthWestern Energy Group beats SolarBank on 11 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About NorthWestern Energy Group

NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. provides electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial, and various industrial customers. It generates, purchases, transmits, and distributes electricity; and produces, purchases, stores, transmits, and distributes natural gas, as well as owns municipal franchises to provide natural gas service in the communities. The company operates 6,600 miles of electric transmission and 18,674 miles of electric distribution lines with approximately 395 transmission and distribution substations; and 2,235 miles of natural gas transmission and 5,155 miles of natural gas distribution lines with approximately 133 city gate stations in Montana. It also operates 1,310 miles of electric transmission and 2,365 miles of electric distribution lines in South Dakota with approximately 124 transmission and distribution substations; and 55 miles of natural gas transmission and 2,573 miles of natural gas distribution lines in South Dakota and Nebraska. The company provides electricity and/or natural gas to approximately 775,300 customers in Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Yellowstone National Park. NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. was founded in 1923 and is based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

About SolarBank

SolarBank Corporation operates as an independent renewable and clean energy project developer and asset operator in Canada and the United States. The company engages in the site origination, development, financing, engineering, procurement, construction, operation, maintenance, and asset management of solar photovoltaic power generation projects. It offers solar energy solutions in the areas of behind-the-meter solar power plants, electricity grid connected community solar gardens, and utility scale solar farms. The company was formerly known as Abundant Solar Energy Inc. and changed its name to SolarBank Corporation in October 2022. SolarBank Corporation was incorporated in 2013 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.