Critical Review: Companhia Paranaense de Energia – COPEL (OTCMKTS:ELPVY) vs. Heliogen (NYSE:HLGN)

Companhia Paranaense de Energia – COPEL (OTCMKTS:ELPVY) and Heliogen (NYSE:HLGN) are both utilities companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and valuation.

Profitability

This table compares Companhia Paranaense de Energia – COPEL and Heliogen’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Companhia Paranaense de Energia – COPEL	18.43%	16.92%	7.73%
Heliogen	N/A	-418.04%	-126.13%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

27.6% of Heliogen shares are held by institutional investors. 3.8% of Heliogen shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Companhia Paranaense de Energia – COPEL and Heliogen, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Companhia Paranaense de Energia – COPEL	0	0	0	0	N/A
Heliogen	0	1	0	0	2.00

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Companhia Paranaense de Energia – COPEL and Heliogen”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Companhia Paranaense de Energia – COPEL	$3.95 billion	0.90	$504.25 million	N/A	N/A
Heliogen	$3.92 million	2.67	-$129.60 million	($22.66)	-0.08

Companhia Paranaense de Energia – COPEL has higher revenue and earnings than Heliogen.

Volatility and Risk

Companhia Paranaense de Energia – COPEL has a beta of 0.42, suggesting that its share price is 58% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Heliogen has a beta of 2.59, suggesting that its share price is 159% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Companhia Paranaense de Energia – COPEL beats Heliogen on 6 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Companhia Paranaense de Energia – COPEL

Companhia Paranaense de Energia – COPEL engages in the generation, transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity to industrial, residential, commercial, rural, and other customers primarily in the State of Paraná, Brazil. As of December 31, 2019, the company operated 19 hydroelectric plants, 25 wind plants, and one thermoelectric plant with a total installed capacity of 5,742.0 megawatts; and owned and operated 3,389 kilometers of transmission lines and 199,952.6 kilometers of distribution lines. It holds concessions to distribute electricity in 399 municipalities in the State of Paraná and in the municipality of Porto União in the State of Santa Catarina. The company also provides telecommunication services to corporate clients, including supermarkets, universities, banks, internet service providers, and television networks, as well as to retail clients; and broadband internet access to public elementary and middle schools. In addition, it supplies piped gas to 47,238 customers, including thermoelectric plants, cogeneration plants, gas stations, other businesses, and residences through a gas distribution network covering 833 kilometers in the State of Paraná. Companhia Paranaense de Energia Â- COPEL was founded in 1954 and is headquartered in Curitiba, Brazil.

About Heliogen

Heliogen, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, develops and commercializes concentrated solar energy in the United States. It is developing a modular, AI-enabled, concentrated solar energy plant that will use an array of mirrors to reflect sunlight and capture, concentrate, store and convert it into cost-effective energy on demand. The company offers heliostat fields, and associated control systems, solar receivers, thermal energy storage, and heat engines. Its solutions include carbon-free steam production, a system that produces heat or steam for use in industrial processes; net zero power generation system, a turbine generator with the baseline system, which achieves net-zero emissions in electricity production; and green hydrogen production, and electrolyzer with the baseline system that produces green hydrogen fuel. The company also offers professional services, such as turnkey project construction, project site development, and research and development studies. It serves the food and beverage, mining and mineral processing, oil and gas, transportation, chemicals, cement, and metals manufacturing industries. The company was formerly known as Edison Microgrids, Inc. and changed its name to Heliogen, Inc. in November 2019. The company is headquartered in Pasadena, California.