Head to Head Analysis: Spruce Power (NYSE:SPRU) & American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP)

Spruce Power (NYSE:SPRU) and American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, dividends, earnings and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Spruce Power and American Electric Power, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Spruce Power	0	0	0	0	0.00
American Electric Power	2	9	4	0	2.13

American Electric Power has a consensus target price of $97.13, suggesting a potential upside of 5.28%. Given American Electric Power’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe American Electric Power is more favorable than Spruce Power.

Volatility and Risk

Spruce Power has a beta of 1.15, suggesting that its share price is 15% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, American Electric Power has a beta of 0.56, suggesting that its share price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Spruce Power and American Electric Power”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Spruce Power	$77.58 million	0.76	-$65.83 million	($5.06)	-0.62
American Electric Power	$19.60 billion	2.50	$2.21 billion	$4.99	18.49

American Electric Power has higher revenue and earnings than Spruce Power. Spruce Power is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than American Electric Power, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

20.8% of Spruce Power shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.2% of American Electric Power shares are owned by institutional investors. 9.6% of Spruce Power shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of American Electric Power shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Spruce Power and American Electric Power’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Spruce Power	-121.98%	-23.98%	-5.48%
American Electric Power	13.48%	11.41%	3.01%

Summary

American Electric Power beats Spruce Power on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Spruce Power

Spruce Power Holding Corporation owns and operates distributed solar energy assets in the United States. The company provides subscription-based services for homeowners and businesses to own and maintain rooftop solar and battery storage. It offers its subscription-based services to approximately 75,000 customers. The company is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.

About American Electric Power

American Electric Power Company, Inc., an electric public utility holding company, engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity for sale to retail and wholesale customers in the United States. It operates through Vertically Integrated Utilities, Transmission and Distribution Utilities, AEP Transmission Holdco, and Generation & Marketing segments. The company generates electricity using coal and lignite, natural gas, renewable, nuclear, hydro, solar, wind, and other energy sources. It also supplies and markets electric power at wholesale to other electric utility companies, rural electric cooperatives, municipalities, and other market participants. American Electric Power Company, Inc. was incorporated in 1906 and is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.