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ENLAY vs. CNP: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

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Investors interested in stocks from the Utility - Electric Power sector have probably already heard of Enel SpA (ENLAY - Free Report) and CenterPoint Energy (CNP - 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.

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.

Both Enel SpA and CenterPoint Energy have 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 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.

ENLAY currently has a forward P/E ratio of 11.67, while CNP has a forward P/E of 19.90. We also note that ENLAY has a PEG ratio of 1.87. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. CNP currently has a PEG ratio of 2.51.

Another notable valuation metric for ENLAY is its P/B ratio of 1.77. 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, CNP has a P/B of 2.13.

These metrics, and several others, help ENLAY earn a Value grade of A, while CNP has been given a Value grade of C.

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

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