NJR vs NWN: Which Is the Better Buy in 2026?

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.

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. NJR and NWN 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 NJR and NWN 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.

New Jersey Resources is a diversified energy infrastructure company headquartered in Wall, New Jersey. Its core is New Jersey Natural Gas (NJNG), a regulated utility that distributes gas to roughly 5.6 million people across Monmouth, Ocean, Morris, Middlesex, Sussex and Burlington counties. Around it sit three non-utility segments: Clean Energy Ventures (solar generation), Energy Services (a wholesale natural gas trading and asset-optimization business active across North America), and Storage and Transportation (the Adelphia Gateway pipeline, the Leaf River salt-dome storage facility, and a 50% stake in Steckman Ridge). Company guidance points to the regulated utility contributing roughly 62 to 67 percent of net financial earnings, with the remainder split among Energy Services, Clean Energy Ventures and Storage and Transportation.

Full NJR guide

Northwest Natural Holding Company (NYSE: NWN) is the holding company for Northwest Natural Gas Company, a regulated natural gas distributor serving roughly 810,000 meters across Oregon and southwest Washington, plus three other pieces: SiEnergy Operating, a fast-growing regulated gas utility serving Texas growth corridors (acquired January 2025, with Pines Gas added in June 2025); NW Natural Water, a roll-up of regulated water and wastewater systems across the Pacific Northwest, Idaho, Texas, Arizona and California; and NW Natural Renewables, a non-regulated renewable natural gas arm. The group also owns the Mist underground gas storage facility in Oregon, which is partly FERC-regulated and sells interstate storage services. Together the businesses reach nearly one million customers in seven states, and the company has operated for more than 167 years.

Full NWN guide

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

• NJR drivers: Regulated utility rate-base growth; Energy Services trading upside.
• NWN drivers: SiEnergy and Texas customer growth; Rate cases converting capital spending into revenue.

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: As a regulated utility, NJR depends on favorable rate-case outcomes from New Jersey regulators, and unfavorable rulings can compress returns on its heavy capital spending. For NWN, decarbonization policy is the structural risk that separates NWN from a Sun Belt gas utility: Oregon and Washington both pursue aggressive emissions reduction from building gas use, and electrification mandates, building-code changes or new compliance costs could shrink the customer base the rate base is spread across.

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 NJR if you believe its drivers more; NWN 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 NJR and NWN guides.

NJR. NJR trades at a mid-teens multiple of earnings, roughly in line with regulated gas utility peers, reflecting a stable regulated core plus a variable trading component. Management has raised fiscal 2026 net financial earnings guidance twice, largely on strong Energy Services results, so the quality and repeatability of a given year's earnings depends on how much came from the regulated utility versus commodity trading. The roughly 3.3 percent dividend yield and steady dividend growth are central to the total-return story.

NWN. Valuation sits in the normal band for a small-cap regulated gas utility, at roughly 17 times trailing earnings and around 16 times the midpoint of 2026 guidance of $2.95 to $3.15 per share, which management now expects to land in the upper half. Reported figures are all in US dollars. Because earnings are concentrated in the heating season, quarterly comparisons are close to meaningless in isolation: the June 2026 quarter produced ~$0.01 per share and the first half produced ~$2.33, so the trailing twelve-month number is the only fair basis for a multiple.

Headline figures (approximate, July 2026): NJR shows revenue (ttm) ~$2.1B, net income (fy2025) ~$336M, eps (ttm) ~$3.35, market cap ~$4.7B; NWN shows revenue (ttm) ~$1.29B, net income (ttm) ~$126M, diluted eps (ttm) ~$2.99, market cap ~$2.1B.

NJR and NWN 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 NJR and NWN exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.