Black Hills vs NorthWestern Energy
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The short version
- Black Hills is the larger business, with $2.3B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $1.6B for NorthWestern Energy.
- Black Hills grew revenue faster (8.6%, against 6.4%).
- Black Hills kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (23.3% operating margin, against 20.2%).
- Black Hills turned more of its sales into free cash flow (−6.3% FCF margin, against −8.1%).
- Black Hills earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (5.7%, against 5.1%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of NorthWestern Energy’s earnings: a P/E of 28.0x against 20.0x for Black Hills.
| Latest fiscal year | BKH · FY25 | NWE · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $6.0B | $4.8B |
| Revenue | $2.3B | $1.6B |
| Free cash flow | −$146M | −$130M |
| Net income | $292M | $181M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 8.6% | 6.4% |
| 5-year growth | 6.4% | 6.1% |
| Share count change | 4.7% | 0.3% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | — | — |
| Operating margin | 23.3% | 20.2% |
| Net margin | 12.6% | 11.2% |
| FCF margin | −6.3% | −8.1% |
| Return on capital | 5.7% | 5.1% |
| Return on equity | 8.0% | 6.3% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $4.5B | $3.4B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 5.5x | 6.0x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $198M | $161M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 20.0x | 28.0x |
| Piotroski F-score | 6 | 5 |
Revenue
FY16
BKH $1.5B
NWE $1.3B
FY17
BKH $1.7B
NWE $1.3B
FY18
BKH $1.8B
NWE $1.2B
FY19
BKH $1.7B
NWE $1.3B
FY20
BKH $1.7B
NWE $1.2B
FY21
BKH $1.9B
NWE $1.4B
FY22
BKH $2.6B
NWE $1.5B
FY23
BKH $2.3B
NWE $1.4B
FY24
BKH $2.1B
NWE $1.5B
FY25
BKH $2.3B
NWE $1.6B
BKH
NWE
Operating margin
FY16
BKH 21.9%
NWE 20.3%
FY17
BKH 24.8%
NWE 20.8%
FY18
BKH 22.6%
NWE 22.3%
FY19
BKH 23.4%
NWE 22.0%
FY20
BKH 25.2%
NWE 19.7%
FY21
BKH 21.0%
NWE 20.1%
FY22
BKH 17.8%
NWE 17.8%
FY23
BKH 20.3%
NWE 21.1%
FY24
BKH 23.7%
NWE 21.4%
FY25
BKH 23.3%
NWE 20.2%
BKH
NWE
Free cash flow
FY16
BKH −$134M
NWE −$1.1M
FY17
BKH $102M
NWE $46.3M
FY18
BKH $31.3M
NWE $98.0M
FY19
BKH −$313M
NWE −$19.3M
FY20
BKH −$226M
NWE −$53.6M
FY21
BKH −$742M
NWE −$214M
FY22
BKH −$19.6M
NWE −$208M
FY23
BKH $389M
NWE −$77.7M
FY24
BKH −$24.9M
NWE −$143M
FY25
BKH −$146M
NWE −$130M
BKH
NWE
Return on capital
FY16
BKH 6.0%
NWE 6.9%
FY17
BKH 6.1%
NWE 6.6%
FY18
BKH 7.5%
NWE 6.7%
FY19
BKH 6.3%
NWE 6.7%
FY20
BKH 6.1%
NWE 5.4%
FY21
BKH 5.8%
NWE 5.8%
FY22
BKH 5.5%
NWE 5.1%
FY23
BKH 5.6%
NWE 5.3%
FY24
BKH 5.7%
NWE 5.6%
FY25
BKH 5.7%
NWE 5.1%
BKH
NWE
Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.