Otter Tail Corporation (OTTR) Stock Price & How to Invest

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.

The investment picture centers on a transition. During 2021 to 2023 the Plastics segment earned outsized profits as PVC pipe prices spiked, inflating total earnings well above the utility's normal contribution. As pipe prices reset lower, plastics earnings are stepping down (management expects them to normalize toward roughly $45 million to $50 million annually by 2028), while the regulated Electric segment grows its rate base and earnings. The market debate is whether utility and manufacturing growth can offset the plastics normalization, and how much of OTTR's earnings should be valued at a utility multiple versus a lower cyclical one.

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.

A simple financial snapshot. These are approximations and refresh quarterly; for current figures see Otter Tail Corporation's investor relations page or your broker.

• Revenue (TTM): ~$1.29B
• Q1 2026 revenue: ~$347M
• Q1 2026 diluted EPS: ~$1.73
• 2026 EPS guidance: ~$5.22 to $5.62
• Market cap: ~$3.9B
• P/E (approx): ~14x
• Dividend / yield: ~$2.31/yr (~2.5%)

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.

There are three common ways to get OTTR exposure. Buy shares (or fractional shares) directly at any major broker. Hold an ETF that includes it, which spreads the position across many companies. Or build it into a focused thematic basket, so OTTR sits alongside other stocks that express the same thesis.

Walnut takes the basket route. Describe a thesis where OTTR fits (for example “AI infrastructure” or “dividend-growth large-caps”) and the AI proposes 5 to 6 constituents with target weights. You review the plan and fund it through your own broker when you're ready.

New to this? Start with how to invest in stocks, see how to analyze a stock with AI, or compare the best AI stock analyzers.

OTTR blends regulated utility stability with a cyclical plastics business that is resetting off pandemic-era highs, so the story is about the utility growing into the earnings the plastics segment gives back.

Whether OTTR is worth buying today depends more on your time horizon and what you already hold than on any single call. We walk through valuation, what would have to go right, and the risks in is OTTR a buy?, and where the stock could go from here in the OTTR stock forecast.

For income investors, whether OTTR pays a dividend and how the payout looks is covered in does OTTR pay a dividend?