UTL or DTE: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?
Investors with an interest in Utility - Electric Power stocks have likely encountered both Unitil (UTL) and DTE Energy (DTE). 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 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.
Right now, Unitil is sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while DTE Energy has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). Investors should feel comfortable knowing that UTL likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than DTE has recently. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.
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.
UTL currently has a forward P/E ratio of 19.11, while DTE has a forward P/E of 19.21. We also note that UTL has a PEG ratio of 2.70. 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. DTE currently has a PEG ratio of 3.20.
Another notable valuation metric for UTL is its P/B ratio of 1.78. 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, DTE has a P/B of 2.15.
These are just a few of the metrics contributing to UTL's Value grade of B and DTE's Value grade of C.
UTL sticks out from DTE in both our Zacks Rank and Style Scores models, so value investors will likely feel that UTL is the better option right now.
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Unitil Corporation (UTL) : Free Stock Analysis Report
DTE Energy Company (DTE) : Free Stock Analysis Report
