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POR or IDA: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors looking for stocks in the Utility - Electric Power sector might want to consider either PGE (POR - Free Report) or IdaCorp (IDA - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks is more attractive to value investors? We'll need to take a closer look to find out.

There are plenty of strategies for discovering value stocks, but we have found that pairing a strong Zacks Rank with an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system produces the best returns. The proven Zacks Rank puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

PGE and IdaCorp are both sporting a Zacks Rank of # 2 (Buy) right now. This means that both companies have witnessed positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that both of these stocks have an improving earnings outlook. But this is only part of the picture for value investors.

Value investors also tend to look at a number of traditional, tried-and-true figures to help them find stocks 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.

POR currently has a forward P/E ratio of 19.76, while IDA has a forward P/E of 22.60. We also note that POR has a PEG ratio of 6.30. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. IDA currently has a PEG ratio of 8.13.

Another notable valuation metric for POR is its P/B ratio of 1.67. 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, IDA has a P/B of 2.12.

Based on these metrics and many more, POR holds a Value grade of B, while IDA has a Value grade of C.

Both POR and IDA are impressive stocks with solid earnings outlooks, but based on these valuation figures, we feel that POR is the superior value option right now.


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