Analyzing Fluence Energy (NASDAQ:FLNC) and Central Puerto (NYSE:CEPU)

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

53.2% of Fluence Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 3.0% of Central Puerto shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.7% of Fluence Energy shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Central Puerto shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Fluence Energy and Central Puerto, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Fluence Energy	4	12	5	0	2.05
Central Puerto	0	1	1	0	2.50

Fluence Energy presently has a consensus target price of $19.47, suggesting a potential downside of 9.40%. Central Puerto has a consensus target price of $17.50, suggesting a potential upside of 25.02%. Given Central Puerto’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Central Puerto is more favorable than Fluence Energy.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Fluence Energy and Central Puerto”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Fluence Energy	$2.58 billion	1.53	-$48.31 million	($0.36)	-59.69
Central Puerto	$782.60 million	2.71	$277.08 million	$2.08	6.73

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

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Fluence Energy	-1.62%	-8.29%	-1.85%
Central Puerto	37.86%	15.69%	10.94%

Volatility & Risk

Fluence Energy has a beta of 2.62, indicating that its share price is 162% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Central Puerto has a beta of 0.83, indicating that its share price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Central Puerto beats Fluence Energy on 9 of the 14 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 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.