NJR vs OGS: Which Is the Better Buy in 2026?
Last updated October 2026
Short answer
NJR (New Jersey Resources) and OGS (ONE Gas) 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.
NJR vs OGS: the tie-breaker metrics
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.
| Metric | NJR | OGS | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|---|
| Market cap | $5.27B | $4.75B | Size. The larger name is the incumbent; the smaller has more room to grow and more to prove. |
| Forward P/E | 15.17 | 15.03 | 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 | 14.46 | 16.26 | 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 | 0.50 | 0.63 | 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 | 50% of range | 26% 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 | 2.00 | 1.34 | 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 NJR and OGS 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. NJR and OGS 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 OGS 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 New Jersey Resources (NJR) do?
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.
What does ONE Gas (OGS) do?
ONE Gas runs three regulated natural gas distribution utilities and nothing else: Oklahoma Natural Gas, Kansas Gas Service and Texas Gas Service, together serving roughly 2.3 million customers, about 92% of them residential. The company does not drill for gas, does not own long-haul pipelines, and does not sell electricity. It buys gas, delivers it, and passes the commodity cost through to customers at no markup. Earnings come instead from an allowed return on capital sunk into pipe, meters and regulators, an average rate base of about $6.4 billion in 2026. Terms are set state by state: allowed returns on equity near 9.4% in Oklahoma, 9.5% in Kansas and 9.8% in Texas, on equity layers around 60%. Roughly 70% of margin arrives as fixed customer charges, so a mild winter bruises results less than it once did.
NJR vs OGS: 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.
- NJR drivers: Regulated utility rate-base growth; Energy Services trading upside.
- OGS drivers: Rate base growth, funded by a defined capital plan; Rate cases and the trackers that shorten regulatory lag.
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: 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 OGS, regulatory outcomes are the central risk: a commission can disallow spending, set a lower allowed return, or simply take long enough that the company under-earns on capital already deployed.
NJR or OGS: which should you pick?
NJR vs OGS: the full fundamentals
NJR. NJR trades at about 14.4 times trailing earnings and about 15 times forward estimates, roughly in line with regulated gas utility peers; the market is pricing a stable regulated core plus a variable trading component. Forward earnings are expected to be slightly lower than fiscal 2026 because the strong Energy Services year is not assumed to repeat, which is why the forward multiple sits above the trailing one. The roughly 3.9 percent dividend yield, after a 5.3 percent increase in September, and steady dividend growth are central to the total-return story; seven analysts carry a mean target near $59.71.
OGS. A sales multiple is close to meaningless here, since the commodity component of revenue is billed at cost and simply flows back out. At about 16 times trailing and 15 times forward earnings, OGS has slipped toward the cheaper end of the regulated gas group as the shares drifted into the mid $70s, which also lifts the yield to roughly 3.65%. Total debt of about $3.4 billion against a payout ratio near 58% and A3 and A- credit ratings is the other half of the valuation conversation.
Headline figures (approximate, October 2026): NJR shows revenue (ttm) ~$2.2B (fiscal Q3 2026 revenue +16.8% YoY), net income (ttm) ~$366M (~16% profit margin), eps (ttm) ~$3.61, fy2026 nfeps guidance ~$3.52 to $3.62 (narrowed, midpoint raised, August 2026); OGS shows revenue (ttm) ~$2.31B, down ~2.9% yoy in the latest quarter, heavily pass-through gas cost, net income / eps (ttm) ~$288M, ~$4.65 per diluted share, q2 2026 (reported august) adjusted EPS ~$0.82 vs ~$0.64 expected; GAAP ~$0.74, margins (ttm) ~19.9% operating, ~12.5% net.
The bottom line: NJR vs OGS
NJR and OGS 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 OGS exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.
Wondering how NJR or OGS 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 New Jersey Resources with AI
Connect the broker you already use and ask Walnut's AI how NJR 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 NJR and OGS?
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New Jersey Resources is a diversified energy infrastructure company headquartered in Wall, New Jersey. ONE Gas runs three regulated natural gas distribution utilities and nothing else: Oklahoma Natural Gas, Kansas Gas Service and Texas Gas Service, together serving roughly 2.3 million customers, about 92% of them residential. 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 NJR or OGS the better stock?
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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, NJR or OGS?
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On forward P/E (as of October 2026), NJR trades at 15.17x and OGS at 15.03x, so OGS 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 NJR and OGS?
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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 NJR vs OGS?
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NJR: 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. Rising interest rates raise financing costs for a capital-intensive balance sheet and can make utility dividend yields less attractive relative to bonds. The Energy Services segment introduces earnings volatility tied to natural gas price swings, so strong years may not repeat and weak commodity environments can pressure results. Weather remains a swing factor for both utility demand and trading margins, as fiscal 2026 illustrated. Longer term, the energy transition and decarbonization policy could weigh on natural gas demand and asset values, and large ongoing capital needs may require continued debt and equity issuance: free cash flow ran about -$259 million over the trailing twelve months and debt stands near $3.9 billion. Analyst consensus also expects fiscal 2027 earnings per share to dip about 3.6% to roughly $3.44 as Energy Services normalizes, and the pending New Jersey base-rate case adds regulatory uncertainty. OGS: Regulatory outcomes are the central risk: a commission can disallow spending, set a lower allowed return, or simply take long enough that the company under-earns on capital already deployed. Affordability politics compound this, because Winter Storm Uri securitization charges of roughly $6 a month already sit on customer bills in Oklahoma and Kansas and will for years. Another Uri-scale gas price event would again force ONE Gas to fund enormous purchases before recovering them, a working capital shock the 2021 event showed can run into the billions. The funding plan assumes equity can be issued on reasonable terms, so a lower share price makes the same capital program more dilutive. Longer term, building electrification and state-level restrictions on new gas connections would chip at customer growth in a business whose value rests on adding meters for decades. Sentiment has already cooled: Jefferies cut the stock to Hold with an $80 target on October 8, 2026, even as Scotiabank started coverage at Sector Outperform with an $86 target in late September.
Walnut is informational, not investment advice. This page is descriptive and not a recommendation to buy or sell NJR or OGS; figures are approximate and dated (as of October 2026). Verify current data before investing.