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OGS or MDU: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors interested in Utility - Gas Distribution stocks are likely familiar with ONE Gas (OGS - Free Report) and MDU Resources (MDU - 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 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.

ONE Gas has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while MDU Resources 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 OGS 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.

OGS currently has a forward P/E ratio of 16.33, while MDU has a forward P/E of 19.89. We also note that OGS has a PEG ratio of 2.45. 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. MDU currently has a PEG ratio of 2.63.

Another notable valuation metric for OGS is its P/B ratio of 1.45. The P/B ratio is used to compare a stock's market value with its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. For comparison, MDU has a P/B of 1.48.

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

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


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MDU Resources Group, Inc. (MDU) - free report >>

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