Contrasting Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) and Chubu Electric Power (OTCMKTS:CHUEF)

Chubu Electric Power (OTCMKTS:CHUEF) and Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) are both utilities companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, earnings, risk, valuation, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

9.6% of Chubu Electric Power shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.7% of Sempra Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Sempra Energy shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Chubu Electric Power and Sempra Energy, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Chubu Electric Power	0	0	0	0	0.00
Sempra Energy	0	4	10	1	2.80

Sempra Energy has a consensus target price of $104.23, indicating a potential upside of 21.00%. Given Sempra Energy’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Sempra Energy is more favorable than Chubu Electric Power.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Chubu Electric Power and Sempra Energy”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Chubu Electric Power	N/A	N/A	N/A	($3.17)	-5.31
Sempra Energy	$13.55 billion	4.15	$1.84 billion	$2.95	29.20

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

Profitability

This table compares Chubu Electric Power and Sempra Energy’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Chubu Electric Power	N/A	N/A	N/A
Sempra Energy	14.31%	8.20%	2.93%

Summary

Sempra Energy beats Chubu Electric Power on 12 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Chubu Electric Power

Chubu Electric Power Company, Incorporated, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, transmission, distribution, and retail of electricity in Japan and internationally. The company operates through three segments: JERA, Power Grid, and Miraiz. It generates electricity through geothermal, nuclear, hydroelectric, wind, biomass, and solar sources. The company is also involved in the fuel upstream, power generation procurement, and wholesale of electricity and gas businesses; and provides power network services. In addition, it engages in the construction for the development and maintenance of electric utilities-related facilities; and manufacture of materials and machinery for electric utilities-related facilities. Further, the company is involved in the gas supply and real estate activities, as well as life-related business about medical and health. Chubu Electric Power Company, Incorporated was founded in 1889 and is headquartered in Nagoya, Japan.

About Sempra Energy

Sempra operates as an energy infrastructure company in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Sempra California, Sempra Texas Utilities, and Sempra Infrastructure. The Sempra California segment provides electric services; and natural gas services to San Diego County. As of December 31, 2023, it offered electric services to approximately 3.6 million population and natural gas services to approximately 3.3 million population that covers 4,100 square miles. This segment owns and operates a natural gas distribution, transmission, and storage system that supplies natural gas. As of December 31, 2023, it serves a population of 21 million covering an area of 24,000 square miles. The Sempra Texas Utilities segment engages in the regulated electricity transmission and distribution. As of December 31, 2023, its transmission system included 18,298 circuit miles of transmission lines; 1,257 transmission and distribution substations; interconnection to 173 third-party generation facilities totaling 54,277 MW; and distribution system included approximately 4.0 million points of delivery and consisted of 125,116 miles of overhead and underground lines. The Sempra Infrastructure segment develops, builds, operates, and invests in energy infrastructure to help enable the energy transition in North American markets and worldwide. The company was formerly known as Sempra Energy and changed its name to Sempra in May 2023. Sempra was incorporated in 1996 and is based in San Diego, California.