Financial Survey: Fluence Energy (NASDAQ:FLNC) vs. Diversified Energy (NYSE:DEC)

Fluence Energy (NASDAQ:FLNC) and Diversified Energy (NYSE:DEC) are both energy companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, risk, dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Fluence Energy and Diversified Energy, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Fluence Energy	3	14	4	0	2.05
Diversified Energy	0	2	5	1	2.88

Fluence Energy currently has a consensus price target of $16.25, suggesting a potential upside of 22.64%. Diversified Energy has a consensus price target of $21.80, suggesting a potential upside of 29.38%. Given Diversified Energy’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Diversified Energy is more favorable than Fluence Energy.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

53.2% of Fluence Energy shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 26.5% of Diversified Energy shares are held by institutional investors. 0.7% of Fluence Energy shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Fluence Energy and Diversified Energy’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Fluence Energy	-2.04%	-10.10%	-2.31%
Diversified Energy	N/A	N/A	N/A

Volatility & Risk

Fluence Energy has a beta of 2.96, indicating that its share price is 196% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Diversified Energy has a beta of -0.23, indicating that its share price is 123% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Fluence Energy and Diversified Energy”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Fluence Energy	$2.26 billion	1.08	-$48.31 million	($0.44)	-30.11
Diversified Energy	$1.83 billion	0.67	$341.11 million	$1.47	11.46

Diversified Energy has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Fluence Energy. Fluence Energy is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Diversified Energy, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Diversified Energy beats Fluence Energy on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Fluence Energy

Fluence Energy, Inc., through its subsidiaries, offers energy storage products and solution, services, and artificial intelligence enabled software-as-a-service products for renewables and storage applications in the Americas, the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. The company sells energy storage products with integrated hardware, software, and digital intelligence. Its energy storage products include Gridstack Pro, a large-scale front-of-the-meter application; Gridstack, a front-of-the-meter application; Sunstack, a DC-coupled energy storage product for DC-coupled solar + storage projects; Edgestack, for smaller-scale commercial and industrial use cases; and Ultrastack, for critical system requirements of distribution and transmission networks. The company also provides engineering and delivery services to support the deployment of its storage products; operational and maintenance services; and digital applications. It serves independent power producers, developer, utilities, and other generators. Fluence Energy, Inc. was founded in 2018 and is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. Fluence Energy, Inc. is a joint venture of Siemens Aktiengesellschaft and The AES Corporation.

About Diversified Energy

Diversified Energy Company PLC operates as an independent owner and operator of producing natural gas and oil wells primarily in the Appalachian Basin of the United States. The company is involved in the production, marketing, and transportation of natural gas, natural gas liquids, crude oil, and condensates. Its assets consist of natural gas wells and gathering systems located in the states of Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana. The company was formerly known as Diversified Gas & Oil PLC and changed its name to Diversified Energy Company PLC in May 2021. Diversified Energy Company PLC was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama.