NWN vs SR: 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. NWN 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 NWN 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.

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

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.

• NWN drivers: SiEnergy and Texas customer growth; Rate cases converting capital spending into revenue.
• 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: 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. 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.

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 NWN 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 NWN and SR guides.

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.

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, August 2026): NWN shows revenue (ttm) ~$1.29B, net income (ttm) ~$126M, diluted eps (ttm) ~$2.99, market cap ~$2.1B; 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.

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