Head to Head Analysis: Centrus Energy (NYSE:LEU) & Shell (NYSE:SHEL)

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Shell and Centrus Energy, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Shell	0	9	7	2	2.61
Centrus Energy	0	9	8	1	2.56

Shell presently has a consensus target price of $106.63, suggesting a potential downside of 0.36%. Centrus Energy has a consensus target price of $202.44, suggesting a potential upside of 105.83%. Given Centrus Energy’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Centrus Energy is more favorable than Shell.

Risk and Volatility

Shell has a beta of 0.1, suggesting that its stock price is 90% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Centrus Energy has a beta of 1.53, suggesting that its stock price is 53% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Shell and Centrus Energy’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Shell	8.55%	14.34%	6.74%
Centrus Energy	10.23%	7.06%	2.01%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Shell and Centrus Energy”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Shell	$273.73 billion	1.12	$17.84 billion	$9.06	11.81
Centrus Energy	$448.70 million	4.37	$77.80 million	$2.20	44.70

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

28.6% of Shell shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 50.0% of Centrus Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of Shell shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of Centrus Energy shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Shell beats Centrus Energy on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Shell

Shell plc operates as an energy and petrochemical company Europe, Asia, Oceania, Africa, the United States, and Rest of the Americas. The company operates through Integrated Gas, Upstream, Marketing, Chemicals and Products, and Renewables and Energy Solutions segments. It explores for and extracts crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids; markets and transports oil and gas; produces gas-to-liquids fuels and other products; and operates upstream and midstream infrastructure to deliver gas to market. The company also markets and trades natural gas, liquefied natural gas (LNG), crude oil, electricity, carbon-emission rights; and markets and sells LNG as a fuel for heavy-duty vehicles. In addition, it trades in and refines crude oil and other feed stocks, such as low-carbon fuels, lubricants, bitumen, sulphur, gasoline, diesel, aviation fuel, and marine fuel; produces and sells petrochemicals for industrial use; and manages oil sands activities. Further, the company produces base chemicals comprising ethylene, propylene, and aromatics, as well as intermediate chemicals, such as styrene monomer, propylene oxide, solvents, detergent alcohols, ethylene oxide, and ethylene glycol. Additionally, it generates electricity through wind and solar resources; produces and sells hydrogen; and provides electric vehicle charging services. The company was formerly known as Royal Dutch Shell plc and changed its name to Shell plc in January 2022. Shell plc was founded in 1907 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

About Centrus Energy

Centrus Energy Corp. supplies nuclear fuel components and services for the nuclear power industry in the United States, Belgium, Japan, and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Low-Enriched Uranium (LEU) and Technical Solutions. The LEU segment sells separative work units (SWU) components of LEU; natural uranium hexafluoride, uranium concentrates, and uranium conversion; and enriched uranium products to utilities that operate nuclear power plants. The Technical Solutions segment offers technical, manufacturing, engineering, and operations services to public and private sector customers. The company was formerly known as USEC Inc. and changed its name to Centrus Energy Corp. in September 2014. Centrus Energy Corp. was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland.