SR or ATO: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

Investors with an interest in Utility - Gas Distribution stocks have likely encountered both Spire (SR) and Atmos Energy (ATO). 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.

We have found that the best way to discover great value opportunities is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with a great grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system. 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 Spire and Atmos Energy have a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) right now. This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that these stocks have improving earnings outlooks. But this is only part of the picture 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.

The Style Score Value grade factors in a variety of key fundamental metrics, including the popular P/E ratio, P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a number of other key stats that are commonly used by value investors.

SR currently has a forward P/E ratio of 15.89, while ATO has a forward P/E of 21.32. We also note that SR has a PEG ratio of 1.51. 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. ATO currently has a PEG ratio of 2.67.

Another notable valuation metric for SR is its P/B ratio of 1.54. 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, ATO has a P/B of 2.02.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to SR's Value grade of B and ATO's Value grade of D.

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

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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