Central Puerto (NYSE:CEPU) vs. Bloom Energy (NYSE:BE) Critical Survey

Central Puerto (NYSE:CEPU) and Bloom Energy (NYSE:BE) are both energy companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends and risk.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

3.0% of Central Puerto shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 77.0% of Bloom Energy shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of Central Puerto shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 3.6% of Bloom Energy shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations for Central Puerto and Bloom Energy, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Central Puerto	0	1	1	0	2.50
Bloom Energy	3	10	10	1	2.38

Central Puerto presently has a consensus price target of $17.50, indicating a potential upside of 7.83%. Bloom Energy has a consensus price target of $100.57, indicating a potential downside of 30.86%. Given Central Puerto’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Central Puerto is more favorable than Bloom Energy.

Profitability

This table compares Central Puerto and Bloom Energy’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Central Puerto	28.24%	15.01%	10.43%
Bloom Energy	0.84%	8.74%	2.08%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Central Puerto and Bloom Energy”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Central Puerto	$810.70 million	3.03	$54.56 million	$1.48	10.97
Bloom Energy	$1.47 billion	23.34	-$29.23 million	N/A	N/A

Central Puerto has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Bloom Energy.

Risk & Volatility

Central Puerto has a beta of 1.06, meaning that its share price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Bloom Energy has a beta of 3.01, meaning that its share price is 201% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Bloom Energy beats Central Puerto on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Central Puerto

Central Puerto S.A. engages in the electric power generation in Argentina. It operates through three segments: Electric Power Generation from Conventional Sources, Electric Power Generation from Renewable Sources, and Natural Gas Transport and Distribution. The company generates energy through thermal, hydroelectric, and wind farms. It also engages in the natural gas transport and distribution business. Central Puerto S.A. was founded in 1898 and is based in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

About Bloom Energy

Bloom Energy Corporation designs, manufactures, sells, and installs solid-oxide fuel cell systems for on-site power generation in the United States and internationally. The company offers Bloom Energy Server, a solid oxide technology that converts fuel, such as natural gas, biogas, hydrogen, or a blend of these fuels into electricity through an electrochemical process without combustion. It sells its products through direct and indirect sales channels to utilities, data centers, agriculture, retail, hospitals, higher education, biotech, and manufacturing industries. The company was formerly known as Ion America Corp. and changed its name to Bloom Energy Corporation in 2006. Bloom Energy Corporation was incorporated in 2001 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.