CWEN vs. AMRC: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

Investors interested in Alternative Energy – Other stocks are likely familiar with NRG Yield (CWEN) and Ameresco (AMRC). But which of these two stocks is more attractive to value investors? We’ll need to take a closer look to find out.

Everyone has their own methods for finding great value opportunities, but our model includes pairing an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system with a strong Zacks Rank. The Zacks Rank favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.

NRG Yield has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), while Ameresco has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now. Investors should feel comfortable knowing that CWEN likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than AMRC 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.

The Value category of the Style Scores system identifies undervalued companies by looking at a number of key metrics. These include the long-favored P/E ratio, P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a variety of other fundamentals that help us determine a company’s fair value.

CWEN currently has a forward P/E ratio of 17.07, while AMRC has a forward P/E of 19.23. We also note that CWEN has a PEG ratio of 0.67. 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. AMRC currently has a PEG ratio of 1.10.

Another notable valuation metric for CWEN is its P/B ratio of 1.59. 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, AMRC has a P/B of 1.78.

These metrics, and several others, help CWEN earn a Value grade of B, while AMRC has been given a Value grade of C.

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

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