AYI vs BE: Which Is the Better Buy in 2026?

Same yardstick, side by side (as of September 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.

Reading it: AYI is the cheaper of the two on forward earnings, but cheaper is not the same as better. Pair the valuation with growth (how far the forward P/E sits below the trailing P/E) and risk (beta) before you decide.

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. AYI and BE 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 AYI and BE 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.

Acuity Inc. is an Atlanta-based industrial technology company with roughly 13,000 employees, renamed from Acuity Brands, Inc. on March 26, 2025 while keeping the AYI ticker. It runs two segments. Acuity Brands Lighting (ABL) is the legacy business and still the bulk of revenue: luminaires, drivers and lighting controls sold into North American commercial construction and renovation under brands including Lithonia Lighting, Holophane, Gotham, Juno, Aculux, eldoLED, nLight and Sensor Switch, distributed largely through independent sales agents and electrical distributors. Acuity Intelligent Spaces (AIS) is the newer, smaller and faster-growing half: Distech Controls sells building management systems for HVAC, lighting, shades and access, Atrius is the data and cloud application layer, and QSC brings the Q-SYS full-stack audio, video and control platform. QSC was purchased for ~$1.215 billion in 2025, the largest acquisition in the company's history, and carried roughly $500 million of annual revenue at the time.

Full AYI guide

Bloom Energy (BE) designs and manufactures solid-oxide fuel cell systems that generate electricity on-site for commercial and industrial customers. Its flagship product, the Bloom Energy Server, converts natural gas, biogas, or hydrogen into electricity through an electrochemical process that is cleaner and more efficient than combustion, providing reliable, always-on power independent of the grid. Customers use Bloom's systems for resilient primary or backup power, to reduce emissions, and increasingly to power energy-intensive facilities like data centers that need large amounts of dependable electricity quickly, often faster than utilities can deliver new grid capacity. Bloom also develops solid-oxide electrolyzer technology to produce hydrogen, positioning it for a potential hydrogen economy. The company sells equipment and offers service and financing arrangements, building a base of long-term service revenue. The investment story centers on distributed, resilient clean power and surging electricity demand from AI data centers. Founded in 2001 and headquartered in San Jose, California, Bloom Energy is a higher-risk clean-energy growth company working toward sustained profitability.

Full BE guide

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

• AYI drivers: Intelligent Spaces is where the growth is; QSC, Q-SYS and data center demand.
• BE drivers: Data center power demand; Resilient distributed power.

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: The core lighting segment is roughly three quarters of revenue and it shrank in the most recent reported quarter, so AIS growth is currently offsetting a decline rather than compounding on top of one. For BE, bloom has a long history of losses and has struggled to reach consistent profitability, relying on growth and financing to fund operations.

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 AYI if you believe its drivers more; BE 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 AYI and BE guides.

AYI. On trailing earnings per share near ~$15.06 the stock prices at roughly ~20 times, falling to about ~14 times on forward estimates, with a price to sales ratio near ~2.0 and an enterprise value around ~$9.5 billion against ~$411.9 million of cash and ~$804.3 million of total debt. That sits above a pure lighting manufacturer and below a building-software business, which is precisely the disagreement: the multiple is pricing a mix shift that is real but is currently only about a quarter of revenue. Shares are down from an all-time closing high of ~$376.44 on June 30, 2026 to near ~$306, and fiscal 2026 ended on August 31, 2026 with those full-year numbers due October 1, 2026.

BE. Bloom Energy is a growth-stage clean-energy company, so it is valued on revenue growth, gross-margin improvement, and the path to sustained profitability rather than current earnings. The valuation embeds optimism about data center demand and distributed power adoption, making the stock highly sensitive to order momentum, clean-energy sentiment, interest rates, and incentive policy.

Headline figures (approximate, September 2026): AYI shows revenue (ttm) ~$4.61B, net sales (q3 fy2026, quarter ended may 31, 2026) ~$1.21B, adjusted diluted eps (first nine months fy2026) ~$14.14, operating cash flow (first nine months fy2026) ~$520.2M; BE shows revenue (ttm) ~$1.3-1.6 billion, operating margin Thin to negative (approaching profitability), gross margin Improving, ~20-30% range, earnings Historically loss-making; profitability a key milestone.

AYI and BE 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 AYI and BE exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.