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

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Investors with an interest in Utility - Electric Power stocks have likely encountered both Exelon (EXC - Free Report) and 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.

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 Zacks Rank is a proven strategy that targets companies with positive earnings estimate revision trends, while our Style Scores work to grade companies based on specific traits.

Exelon has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while IdaCorp has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now. This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that EXC is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. But this is just one piece of the puzzle 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.

Our Value category highlights undervalued companies by looking at a variety of key metrics, including the popular P/E ratio, as well as the P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a variety of other fundamentals that have been used by value investors for years.

EXC currently has a forward P/E ratio of 14.09, while IDA has a forward P/E of 18.75. We also note that EXC has a PEG ratio of 3.52. 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 7.13.

Another notable valuation metric for EXC is its P/B ratio of 1.17. 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, IDA has a P/B of 1.74.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to EXC's Value grade of B and IDA's Value grade of C.

EXC is currently sporting an improving earnings outlook, which makes it stick out in our Zacks Rank model. And, based on the above valuation metrics, we feel that EXC is likely the superior value option right now.


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