NJR vs SR: 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.

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 SR 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 SR 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

Spire Inc. is a public utility holding company headquartered in St. Louis with roots going back to the 1850s. Its regulated distribution utilities (Spire Missouri, Spire Alabama, Spire Gulf, Spire Mississippi and Spire Tennessee) buy natural gas, move it through their own distribution and transmission pipelines, and sell it to residential, commercial and industrial customers under rates set by state commissions. A small Midstream segment holds pipeline and storage assets that serve the utilities. The company closed a ~$2.48 billion purchase of Duke Energy's Piedmont Tennessee local distribution business on March 31, 2026, adding more than 200,000 customers around Nashville and nearly 3,800 miles of pipeline, and it agreed in April 2026 to sell its smaller Mississippi utility to Delta Utilities for ~$75 million. Spire's fiscal year ends September 30, which matters when reading any trailing figure.

Full SR 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.
• SR drivers: Rate base growth is the earnings engine; Tennessee is the newest and fastest-growing piece.

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 SR, regulatory outcomes drive nearly everything here: Alabama and Gulf RSE renewal hearings were held in August 2026 with requested returns on equity of ~10.5% to 10.75%, and Spire expects to make its first Missouri future test year rate case filing around November 2026, so an unfavorable order in either place would flow straight to earnings.

Pick NJR if you believe its drivers more; SR 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 SR 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.

SR. At roughly $81 a share, SR trades near ~20 times the midpoint of fiscal 2026 adjusted guidance and closer to ~15 times the fiscal 2027 midpoint. Those two multiples describe different companies, because fiscal 2027 carries a first full year of Tennessee earnings plus the Missouri and Alabama rates that took effect during fiscal 2026, so anchoring on the trailing number overstates how expensive the shares look. Pure-play gas distributors have generally traded in the high teens to low twenties on forward earnings, which puts Spire inside its peer band rather than at either edge of it.

Headline figures (approximate, July 2026): NJR shows revenue (ttm) ~$2.1B, net income (fy2025) ~$336M, eps (ttm) ~$3.35, market cap ~$4.7B; SR shows revenue (ttm) ~$2.7B, with ~$2.14B in the first nine months of fiscal 2026, adjusted eps guidance ~$3.90 to $4.10 for FY2026, ~$5.40 to $5.60 for FY2027, market cap ~$4.8B at a share price near ~$81, dividend ~$0.825 per quarter (~$3.30 annualized), ~4.1% yield, 23rd consecutive annual increase.

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