AVA vs POR: Which Is the Better Buy in 2026?

Same yardstick, side by side (as of October 2026). Valuation lined up like this is most meaningful for two names in the same corner of the market, which these are. Figures are approximate; verify before investing.

The metrics above tell you which is the marginally better business. The bigger risk for most people is not picking the slightly worse stock, it is over-concentrating. AVA and POR share themes, so owning both, or adding either to what you already hold, can quietly push a large share of your portfolio into one bet.

This is the part a generic comparison page cannot answer, because it depends on what you own. Connect your brokerage and Walnut shows your real, combined AVA and POR exposure, flags overlap with your existing positions, and tells you if adding one would tip you past a concentration you are comfortable with, read-only by default, with your login staying at your broker. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

Avista Corporation is a regulated utility holding company headquartered in Spokane, Washington. Through Avista Utilities it generates, transmits, and distributes electricity and delivers natural gas to roughly 1.7 million customers across eastern Washington, northern Idaho, and parts of Oregon, and through Alaska Electric Light and Power (AEL&P) it serves Juneau, Alaska. Its earnings come almost entirely from monopoly regulated operations, where state utility commissions set the rates and allowed returns, making revenue and profit relatively predictable but capped by the regulatory framework.

Full AVA guide

Portland General Electric is a vertically integrated, regulated electric utility that generates, transmits, and distributes power to roughly 950,000 customers across a service territory in northwest Oregon, all under the oversight of the Oregon Public Utility Commission. Its earnings are set by that regulator through rate cases that let it recover the cost of, and earn an allowed return on, its invested capital (its rate base). The company is pushing hard into the clean energy transition while managing reliability and affordability, and it is one of the more direct utility plays on surging electricity demand from data centers and high-tech manufacturing in the region.

Full POR guide

Both fit overlapping themes, but they are not interchangeable. The useful comparison is which set of drivers and risks you want exposure to.

• AVA drivers: Rate base and capital plan; Regulated earnings and dividend.
• POR drivers: Data center and high-tech load growth; Rate base and capital plan.

A faster-growing, richer-valued name usually swings harder, so it suits a longer horizon and a higher tolerance for volatility; a steadier, more cash-generative business suits a more conservative or income-minded investor. The honest test is which set of risks you could hold through a drawdown: Avista is a small-cap utility with concentrated exposure to Pacific Northwest regulation, so an unfavorable rate-case outcome, such as the Washington order expected around mid-December 2026, can directly compress earnings. For POR, as a rate-regulated utility, POR's returns depend on Oregon (and prospectively Washington) regulators approving cost recovery and allowed returns, and outcomes can lag rising costs during periods of heavy capital spending.

Growth-minded investors who believe the theme has years to run tend to accept the richer multiple for more upside; value-minded investors lean toward the cheaper forward earnings and steadier profile. Pick AVA if you believe its drivers more; POR if you believe its. Many investors hold both, but since they share themes, that is a concentrated bet, not diversification. Decide deliberately and check overlap. For the full detail, see the AVA and POR guides.

AVA. At about 13 times trailing and forward earnings and roughly 1.1 times book value, AVA trades at a discount to most larger utilities because of its small size, wildfire exposure and the pending Washington rate decision. The 5.4% yield is high for the sector, and the payout ratio near 71% sits within a normal utility range. Third-quarter results on November 4, 2026 (consensus about $0.40 per share) and the December Washington order are the next catalysts.

POR. POR trades around $44 per share with a market capitalization near $5.2 billion as of mid-October 2026, down from about $52 and $6.1 billion in July. Trailing earnings are depressed by a mild-winter first quarter and a slight second-quarter miss, which is why the trailing P/E near 20 sits well above the forward multiple near 12; analysts expect EPS to recover to about $3.36 in 2026 and $3.59 in 2027. Like most regulated utilities, POR is valued heavily on its dividend yield, rate-base growth, and allowed returns, and Q3 results arrive October 29, 2026.

Headline figures (approximate, October 2026): AVA shows revenue (ttm) ~$1.92B (Q2 2026 ~$413M), net income (ttm) ~$227M (net margin ~11.8%), eps (ttm) / q2 2026 ~$2.77 / $0.43 vs $0.24 expected, p/e trailing / forward ~13.2x / ~13.1x; POR shows revenue (ttm) ~$3.53B, latest quarter up ~1% year over year, q2 2026 Revenue ~$814M, net income ~$68M, EPS $0.64 vs ~$0.67 expected, net income (ttm) ~$257M; EPS ~$2.26, p/e ~19.6x trailing, ~12.3x forward.

AVA and POR are related but distinct: same themes, different businesses and risks. Neither wins in the abstract; the right pick is whichever thesis you actually believe, sized so you are not over-concentrated in one theme. Walnut can show your combined AVA and POR exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.