MGEE vs OTTR: Which Is the Better Buy in 2026?
Last updated August 2026
Short answer
MGEE (MGE Energy) and OTTR (Otter Tail Corporation) share investment themes but are different businesses. The right pick is whichever thesis you actually believe, sized so you are not over-concentrated in one theme.
MGEE vs OTTR: the tie-breaker metrics
Same yardstick, side by side (as of August 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.
| Metric | MGEE | OTTR | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|---|
| Market cap | $3.06B | $3.71B | Size. The larger name is the incumbent; the smaller has more room to grow and more to prove. |
| Forward P/E | 19.11 | 16.62 | Valuation on next year's expected earnings, the same yardstick for both. Lower is cheaper for that growth; higher means the market is paying up. |
| Trailing P/E | 19.91 | 13.28 | Valuation on the last 12 months. A big drop from trailing to forward means the market expects earnings to jump, so more growth is already in the price. |
| Beta | 0.70 | 0.44 | Volatility vs the market. Above 1 swings harder than the index; below 1 is steadier. Higher beta means bigger drawdowns to hold through. |
| Price vs 52-week range | 56% of range | 68% of range | Where today's price sits between the 52-week low and high. Near the high is momentum with less margin of safety; near the low is out of favor or a discount, depending on why. |
| Price / book | 2.13 | 1.94 | How much you pay over book value. Very high can signal an asset-light, high-return business or a rich price. |
Before you buy: how MGEE and OTTR affect your concentration
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. MGEE and OTTR 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 MGEE and OTTR 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.
What does MGE Energy (MGEE) do?
MGE Energy (Nasdaq: MGEE) is a public utility holding company headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin. Its principal subsidiary, Madison Gas and Electric, generates and distributes electricity to roughly 170,000 customers concentrated in Dane County and purchases and distributes natural gas to roughly 180,000 customers across seven south-central and western Wisconsin counties. Earnings arrive through four reporting lines: a regulated electric segment (the largest, at about $263 million of six-month 2026 revenue), a regulated gas segment (about $141 million), a small nonregulated energy business that holds interests in two coal-fired units at Oak Creek and a cogeneration plant on the UW-Madison campus, and a transmission investment segment built on an equity stake in American Transmission Company. Rates, allowed return on equity and cost recovery are set by the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin, which approved a unanimous 2026/2027 rate settlement in December 2025.
What does Otter Tail Corporation (OTTR) do?
Otter Tail Corporation is a diversified company headquartered in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, operating through three segments. Its Electric segment is a regulated utility that generates, transmits, and distributes power to customers across Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota using coal, natural gas, wind, and solar. Its Manufacturing segment provides contract metal fabrication and other industrial products, and its Plastics segment makes PVC pipe through subsidiaries such as Northern Pipe Products and Vinyltech. Trailing-twelve-month revenue is roughly $1.29 billion, with the regulated utility providing predictable, rate-base-driven earnings and the two non-regulated segments adding cyclical upside and downside.
MGEE vs OTTR: how do they differ?
Both fit overlapping themes, but they are not interchangeable. The useful comparison is which set of drivers and risks you want exposure to.
- MGEE drivers: Rate base growth from the renewables and storage queue; A settled two-year rate path in Wisconsin.
- OTTR drivers: Regulated utility rate-base growth; Plastics normalization.
Which fits which kind of investor
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: Weather drives a meaningful share of results, since heating and cooling degree days move volumes in both segments, and a mild season is not recoverable. For OTTR, the central risk is that plastics earnings fall faster or further than expected as PVC pipe prices continue resetting, pressuring consolidated EPS during the 2026 to 2028 transition.
MGEE or OTTR: which should you pick?
MGEE vs OTTR: the full fundamentals
MGEE. Trailing figures combine full-year 2025 results with the first half of 2026, when revenue rose about 6.7% to $403.9 million and net income rose about 20.2% to $81.8 million. Worth noting that second-quarter operating income actually fell slightly to $32.6 million from $34.2 million, and the reported earnings gain came from roughly $3.9 million of investment gains including venture capital fund returns plus higher equity-method transmission earnings, so the trailing EPS is flattered relative to pure utility operations. Common equity of about $1.44 billion against roughly 37.8 million shares works out to book value near $38 per share, putting the stock around 2.1 times book, above where many regulated utilities of similar size trade.
OTTR. OTTR trades at a mid-teens P/E, below many pure regulated utilities, reflecting the market's discount on the cyclical plastics earnings that are normalizing lower. Q1 2026 came in ahead of expectations with EPS of roughly $1.73, and management affirmed full-year guidance of about $5.22 to $5.62. The valuation debate hinges on how much of the earnings base is durable utility versus fading plastics upside.
Headline figures (approximate, August 2026): MGEE shows revenue (ttm) ~$769M, net income (ttm) ~$150M, diluted eps (ttm) ~$4.06, market cap ~$3.05B; OTTR shows revenue (ttm) ~$1.29B, q1 2026 revenue ~$347M, q1 2026 diluted eps ~$1.73, 2026 eps guidance ~$5.22 to $5.62.
The bottom line: MGEE vs OTTR
MGEE and OTTR 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 MGEE and OTTR exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.
Wondering how MGEE or OTTR fits the portfolio you already own? Walnut is an AI investing app that connects your brokerage read-only and answers questions like that about your actual holdings: overlap, concentration, and how each position tracks the S&P 500. Compare the best AI portfolio analyzers or see the best AI investing apps in 2026.
Investing in MGE Energy with AI
Connect the broker you already use and ask Walnut's AI how MGEE fits what you actually hold: whether you own it already through a fund, what it would do to your concentration, and how it has tracked the S&P 500. Read-only by default, and you approve anything before it reaches your broker.
FAQ
What is the difference between MGEE and OTTR?
+
MGE Energy (Nasdaq: MGEE) is a public utility holding company headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin. Otter Tail Corporation is a diversified company headquartered in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, operating through three segments. They show up together because they share investment themes, but they are different businesses, so the better fit depends on which thesis you are expressing.
Is MGEE or OTTR the better stock?
+
Neither is universally better; they suit different views and risk levels. Walnut is informational, not investment advice. Compare what each does, the tie-breaker metrics above, and the risks, then decide which fits your thesis and what you already own.
Which is cheaper, MGEE or OTTR?
+
On forward P/E (as of August 2026), MGEE trades at 19.11x and OTTR at 16.62x, so OTTR is the cheaper of the two on next year's expected earnings. A lower multiple is not automatically the better buy: a richer valuation can be justified by faster growth, and a lower one can reflect real risk. Weigh the multiple against how fast each business is compounding.
Should you own both MGEE and OTTR?
+
Because they share themes, owning both concentrates you in that theme. That can be intentional (a focused bet) or accidental (less diversification than it looks). Walnut can show your combined exposure across both, and whether adding either over-concentrates you, before you buy.
What are the risks of MGEE vs OTTR?
+
MGEE: Weather drives a meaningful share of results, since heating and cooling degree days move volumes in both segments, and a mild season is not recoverable. Regulatory outcomes are the central variable: the PSCW sets allowed return, controls whether cost overruns above previously approved Certificate of Authority levels are recovered, and applies an earnings sharing mechanism that returns excess earnings to customers. Environmental rules affecting the Elm Road units remain unsettled, with the 2024 effluent guidelines rule under federal challenge and on hold, Milwaukee County designated serious nonattainment for the 2015 ozone standard, and the EPA's February 2026 greenhouse gas repeal itself facing litigation, so the cost and timing of the coal transition is genuinely open. Financing the buildout has meant issuing stock, including a $250 million offering in May 2026 and a $100 million at-the-market program, and the roughly 2.31 million shares under unsettled forward sale agreements represent further dilution ahead of the earnings they fund. Concentration is the quiet risk, because a single county in southern Wisconsin supplies nearly all electric revenue, leaving little to offset a local economic downturn. OTTR: The central risk is that plastics earnings fall faster or further than expected as PVC pipe prices continue resetting, pressuring consolidated EPS during the 2026 to 2028 transition. Commodity and end-market cyclicality in both plastics and metal fabrication add volatility that pure regulated utilities do not carry. Regulatory outcomes on rate cases, allowed returns on equity, and the pace of the energy transition can affect the Electric segment's growth. The stock can also be re-rated if investors decide to value a larger share of earnings at a lower cyclical multiple rather than a utility multiple. Weather, fuel costs, and interest rates are additional standard utility sensitivities.
Walnut is informational, not investment advice. This page is descriptive and not a recommendation to buy or sell MGEE or OTTR; figures are approximate and dated (as of August 2026). Verify current data before investing.