Investors interested in stocks from the Utility - Electric Power sector have probably already heard of Avista (AVA) and American Electric Power (AEP). But which of these two stocks is more attractive to value investors? We'll need to take a closer look to find out.

Everyone has their own methods for finding great value opportunities, but our model includes pairing an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system with a strong Zacks Rank. The proven Zacks Rank emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.

Avista and American Electric Power are sporting Zacks Ranks of #1 (Strong Buy) and #3 (Hold), respectively, right now. This means that AVA's earnings estimate revision activity has been more impressive, so investors should feel comfortable with its improving analyst outlook. But this is only part of the picture for value investors.

Value investors also try to analyze a wide range of traditional figures and metrics to help determine whether a company is undervalued at its 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.

AVA currently has a forward P/E ratio of 14.70, while AEP has a forward P/E of 16.94. We also note that AVA has a PEG ratio of 2.76. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. AEP currently has a PEG ratio of 2.82.

Another notable valuation metric for AVA is its P/B ratio of 1.14. The P/B is a method of comparing a stock's market value to its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. By comparison, AEP has a P/B of 1.98.

These metrics, and several others, help AVA earn a Value grade of B, while AEP has been given a Value grade of C.

AVA has seen stronger estimate revision activity and sports more attractive valuation metrics than AEP, so it seems like value investors will conclude that AVA is the superior option right now.

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