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NJR vs. OGS: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

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Investors with an interest in Utility - Gas Distribution stocks have likely encountered both New Jersey Resources (NJR - Free Report) and ONE Gas (OGS - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? Let's 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 emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.

New Jersey Resources and ONE Gas are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (Buy) and #3 (Hold), respectively, right now. Investors should feel comfortable knowing that NJR likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than OGS has recently. 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 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.

NJR currently has a forward P/E ratio of 17.23, while OGS has a forward P/E of 23.43. We also note that NJR has a PEG ratio of 2.87. This popular figure is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also considers a company's expected EPS growth rate. OGS currently has a PEG ratio of 4.26.

Another notable valuation metric for NJR is its P/B ratio of 1.83. 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, OGS has a P/B of 2.

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

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


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NewJersey Resources Corporation (NJR) - free report >>

ONE Gas, Inc. (OGS) - free report >>

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