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POR or NEE: 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 Portland General Electric (POR - Free Report) and NextEra Energy (NEE - 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.

Portland General Electric and NextEra Energy are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (Buy) and #3 (Hold), respectively, right now. This means that POR's earnings estimate revision activity has been more impressive, so investors should feel comfortable with its improving analyst outlook. But this is just one piece of the puzzle 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.

Our Value category grades stocks based on a number of key metrics, including the tried-and-true P/E ratio, the P/S ratio, earnings yield, and cash flow per share, as well as a variety of other fundamentals that value investors frequently use.

POR currently has a forward P/E ratio of 18.63, while NEE has a forward P/E of 34.04. We also note that POR has a PEG ratio of 2.17. This figure is similar to the commonly-used P/E ratio, with the PEG ratio also factoring in a company's expected earnings growth rate. NEE currently has a PEG ratio of 4.09.

Another notable valuation metric for POR is its P/B ratio of 1.73. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. For comparison, NEE has a P/B of 3.73.

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

POR sticks out from NEE in both our Zacks Rank and Style Scores models, so value investors will likely feel that POR is the better option right now.


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NextEra Energy, Inc. (NEE) - free report >>

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