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ELP vs. PEG: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

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Investors with an interest in Utility - Electric Power stocks have likely encountered both Paranaense de Energia (ELP - Free Report) and PSEG (PEG - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks offers value investors a better bang for their buck right now? We'll need to take a closer look.

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 puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

Paranaense de Energia has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while PSEG has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now. This means that ELP's earnings estimate revision activity has been more impressive, so investors should feel comfortable with its improving analyst outlook. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

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.

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.

ELP currently has a forward P/E ratio of 11.42, while PEG has a forward P/E of 18.07. We also note that ELP has a PEG ratio of 4.02. 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. PEG currently has a PEG ratio of 4.17.

Another notable valuation metric for ELP is its P/B ratio of 1.06. 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, PEG has a P/B of 2.11.

Based on these metrics and many more, ELP holds a Value grade of A, while PEG has a Value grade of C.

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


See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


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Companhia Paranaense de Energia (COPEL) (ELP) - free report >>

Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated (PEG) - free report >>

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