Analyzing Hoku (OTCMKTS:HOKUQ) & Talen Energy (NASDAQ:TLN)

Talen Energy (NASDAQ:TLN) and Hoku (OTCMKTS:HOKUQ) are both energy companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, dividends and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Talen Energy and Hoku, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Talen Energy	0	4	10	0	2.71
Hoku	0	0	0	0	0.00

Talen Energy presently has a consensus target price of $475.08, indicating a potential upside of 27.58%. Given Talen Energy’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Talen Energy is more favorable than Hoku.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Talen Energy and Hoku”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Talen Energy	$3.24 billion	5.51	-$219.00 million	($0.67)	-555.78
Hoku	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Hoku has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Talen Energy.

Volatility and Risk

Talen Energy has a beta of 1.82, meaning that its share price is 82% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hoku has a beta of -1.12, meaning that its share price is 212% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

0.4% of Talen Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.8% of Talen Energy shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.2% of Hoku shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Talen Energy and Hoku’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Talen Energy	-0.63%	41.58%	6.00%
Hoku	N/A	N/A	N/A

Summary

Talen Energy beats Hoku on 8 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Talen Energy

Talen Energy Corporation is a U.S.-based energy and power generation company. The Company owns or controls approximately 16,000 megawatts of capacity in wholesale power markets, principally in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Southwest regions of the United States. The Company generates and sells electricity, capacity and related products from power plants that use fuel sources, such as nuclear, natural gas and coal. The Company’s Susquehanna nuclear power plant has approximately two boiling water reactors with a combined capacity of over 2,600 megawatts. Its fossil fuel plants are located in Athens, Barney Davis, Bayonne, Brandon Shores, Brunner Island, Camden, Colstrip and Dartmouth, among others. It has an art energy trading center located in Allentown, Pennsylvania (PA), where it manages asset load obligations, fuel supply, capacity and related products, and all supporting physical or financial transactions for its electric generation portfolio.

About Hoku

Hoku Corporation operates as a solar energy products and services company primarily in the United States. It focuses on manufacturing polysilicon, a primary material used in the manufacture of photovoltaic (PV) modules; and designing, engineering, and installing turnkey PV systems and related services in Hawaii using solar modules purchased from third-party suppliers. The company was formerly known as Hoku Scientific, Inc. and changed its name to Hoku Corporation in March 2010. Hoku Corporation was incorporated in 2001 and is headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii. On July 2, 2013, Hoku Corporation along with its affiliates filed a voluntary petition for liquidation under Chapter 7 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Idaho.