Investors with an interest in Utility - Electric Power stocks have likely encountered both Entergy (ETR) and WEC Energy Group (WEC). But which of these two stocks is more attractive to value investors? We'll need to take a closer look to find out.
We have found that the best way to discover great value opportunities is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with a great grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system. The Zacks Rank favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.
Currently, Entergy has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while WEC Energy Group has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that ETR has an improving earnings outlook. But this is only part of the picture for value investors.
Value investors analyze a variety of traditional, tried-and-true metrics to help find companies that they believe are undervalued at their current share price levels.
The Style Score Value grade factors in a variety of key fundamental metrics, including the popular P/E ratio, P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a number of other key stats that are commonly used by value investors.
ETR currently has a forward P/E ratio of 18.03, while WEC has a forward P/E of 19.17. We also note that ETR has a PEG ratio of 2.14. This popular figure is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also considers a company's expected EPS growth rate. WEC currently has a PEG ratio of 2.54.
Another notable valuation metric for ETR is its P/B ratio of 2.12. Investors use the P/B ratio to look at a stock's market value versus its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. By comparison, WEC has a P/B of 2.39.
These metrics, and several others, help ETR earn a Value grade of B, while WEC has been given a Value grade of C.
ETR has seen stronger estimate revision activity and sports more attractive valuation metrics than WEC, so it seems like value investors will conclude that ETR is the superior option right now.
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