ALE vs. HE: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?
Investors interested in Utility - Electric Power stocks are likely familiar with Allete (ALE) and Hawaiian Electric (HE). 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 puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.
Right now, Allete is sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Hawaiian Electric has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). Investors should feel comfortable knowing that ALE likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than HE has recently. But this is just one piece of the puzzle 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.
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.
ALE currently has a forward P/E ratio of 17.57, while HE has a forward P/E of 19.40. We also note that ALE has a PEG ratio of 1.90. 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. HE currently has a PEG ratio of 7.55.
Another notable valuation metric for ALE is its P/B ratio of 1.12. 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, HE has a P/B of 2.09.
These metrics, and several others, help ALE earn a Value grade of B, while HE has been given a Value grade of C.
ALE sticks out from HE in both our Zacks Rank and Style Scores models, so value investors will likely feel that ALE is the better option right now.
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Allete, Inc. (ALE) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. (HE) : Free Stock Analysis Report
