Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE:NWN – Get Free Report) and Next Fuel (OTCMKTS:NXFI – Get Free Report) are both utilities companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, earnings and risk.
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares Northwest Natural Gas and Next Fuel”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Northwest Natural Gas | $1.29 billion | 1.61 | $113.32 million | $3.00 | 16.40 |
| Next Fuel | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Institutional and Insider Ownership
75.1% of Northwest Natural Gas shares are held by institutional investors. 0.6% of Northwest Natural Gas shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Profitability
This table compares Northwest Natural Gas and Next Fuel’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Northwest Natural Gas | 9.75% | 8.33% | 2.03% |
| Next Fuel | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Analyst Ratings
This is a summary of recent ratings for Northwest Natural Gas and Next Fuel, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Northwest Natural Gas | 0 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2.83 |
| Next Fuel | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
Northwest Natural Gas currently has a consensus target price of $55.25, suggesting a potential upside of 12.30%. Given Northwest Natural Gas’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Northwest Natural Gas is more favorable than Next Fuel.
Summary
Northwest Natural Gas beats Next Fuel on 10 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Northwest Natural Gas
Northwest Natural Holding Company, through its subsidiary, Northwest Natural Gas Company, provides regulated natural gas distribution services to residential, commercial, and industrial customers in the United States. The company operates a mist gas storage facility contracted to other utilities, third-party marketers, and electric generators; offers natural gas asset management services; and operates an appliance retail center. It also engages in gas storage, water and wastewater, non-regulated renewable natural gas, and other investment businesses. In addition, the company provides natural gas service in Oregon and southwest Washington; and water and wastewater connections. Northwest Natural Holding Company was founded in 1859 and is headquartered in Portland, Oregon.
About Next Fuel
Next Fuel, Inc. provides water consulting, filtration technology, and services to the oil and gas industry, as well as other industrial water users in agriculture and food processing in the United States. The company offers low energy input pervaporation technology to clean up water used in oil and natural gas production, including Frack drilling; carbon dioxide to product technology that targets the emerging market of carbon footprint elimination; and disc filtration technology to remove high concentrations of suspended solids with particle sizes ranging from 200 microns to 5 microns in size. It also provides water treatment solutions related to new and existing systems. Next Fuel, Inc. is based in Sheridan, Wyoming.
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