Sifting through countless of stocks in the Multi-Utilities industry can be tedious, and sometimes two stocks are just too similar to judge which is the better investment. If you’re on the fence about investing in Avista Corporation or Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. because you’re not sure how they measure up, it’s important to compare them on a few factors before making your decision.

Read on to learn how Avista Corporation and Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About Avista Corporation and Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp.

Avista Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an electric and natural gas utility company in the United States. It operates through two segments, Avista Utilities and Alaska Electric Light and Power Company (AEL&P). The Avista Utilities segment provides electric distribution and transmission, and natural gas distribution and transmission services in parts of eastern Washington and northern Idaho; and natural gas distribution services in parts of northeastern and southwestern Oregon, as well as generates electricity in Washington, Idaho, Oregon, and Montana. This segment also engages in the supply of electricity to customers in Montana; and wholesale purchase and sale of electricity and natural gas. The Alaska Electric Light and Power Company segment offers electric services in Juneau, Alaska. The company generates electricity through hydroelectric, thermal, wind, and solar generation facilities. As of December 31, 2025, it supplied retail electrical services to approximately 429,000 customers; retail natural gas services to approximately 386,000 customers; and electrical energy to approximately 17,600 customers. The company also operates five hydroelectric generation facilities with a capacity of 102.7 MW; and four diesel generating facilities with a capacity of 107.5 MW. In addition, it engages in venture fund investments, real estate investments, and other investments. The company was formerly known as Washington Water Power and changed its name to Avista Corporation in January 1999. Avista Corporation was incorporated in 1889 and is headquartered in Spokane, Washington.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. operates in the power and utility industries. It owns and operates a portfolio of regulated electric, water distribution and wastewater collection, and natural gas utility systems and transmission operations. As of December 31, 2025, it operated a portfolio of regulated utility systems in the United States, Canada, Bermuda, and Chile, serving approximately 1,272,000 customer connections. Its regulated electrical distribution utility systems and related transmission and generation assets are located in the states of Arkansas, California, Kansas, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, and Oklahoma, as well as in Bermuda with approximately 311,000 electric customer connections. Its regulated water distribution and wastewater utility systems are located in the states of Arizona, Arkansas, California, Illinois, Missouri, New York, and Texas, as well as in Chile with approximately 583,000 customer connections. It’s regulated natural gas distribution utility systems are located in the states of Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Hampshire, and New York; and in the Canadian province of New Brunswick with approximately 378,000 natural gas customer connections. It also owns and operates generating assets with a gross capacity of approximately 2.0 gigawatt (GW) and has investments in generating assets with approximately 0.3 GW of net generation capacity. It generates and sells hydroelectric energy in Canada, and capacity and renewable attributes are produced by its portfolio of 14 hydroelectric power generation facilities located in the provinces of Alberta, Ontario, New Brunswick, and Quebec. As of December 31, 2025, it had a combined gross generating capacity of approximately 112 megawatts (MW) and a combined net generating capacity of approximately 105 MW. The company was formerly known as Traduction Militech Translation Inc. in October 2009. The company was incorporated in 1988 and is headquartered in Oakville, Canada.

Latest Multi-Utilities and Avista Corporation, Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. Stock News

As of September 1, 2026, Avista Corporation had a $3.2 billion market capitalization, compared to the Multi-Utilities median of $26.0 million. Avista Corporation’s stock is down 3.3% in 2026, down 2.4% in the previous five trading days and up 3.01% in the past year.

Currently, Avista Corporation’s price-earnings ratio is 13.6. Avista Corporation’s trailing 12-month revenue is $1.9 billion with a 11.8% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 0.5%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $2.614 per share for the current fiscal year. Avista Corporation currently has a 5.2% dividend yield.

As of September 1, 2026, Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. had a $4.4 billion market cap, putting it in the 65th percentile of all stocks. Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp.’s stock is down 8.5% in 2026, down 1.4% in the previous five trading days and down 2.41% in the past year.

Currently, Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp.’s price-earnings ratio is 23.6. Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $2.5 billion with a 5.9% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 3.1%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $0.356 per share for the current fiscal year. Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. currently has a 4.6% dividend yield.

How We Compare Avista Corporation and Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. Stock Grades

Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data and the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movements. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors streamline and work through such data.

AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A‐F grades for each of five key investing factors: value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality. Here, we’ll take a closer look at Avista Corporation and Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp.’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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Avista Corporation and Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp.’s Quality Grades

Company	Ticker	Quality
Avista Corporation	AVA	C
Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp.	AQN	D

Like the Value Grade, AAII’s A+ Investor Quality Grade comes from the percentile rank of key metrics. Specifically, the Quality Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of return on assets (ROA), return on invested capital (ROIC), gross profit relative to assets, buyback yield, change in total liabilities to assets, accruals, Z double prime bankruptcy risk (Z) score and the F-Score.

The score is variable, meaning it can consider all eight measures or, should any of the eight measures not be valid, the remaining measures that are valid. To be assigned a Quality Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) measure and corresponding ranking for at least four of the eight quality measures.

The Quality Score is used to assess the underlying “quality” of a particular stock. A higher-quality stock possesses traits associated with upside potential and reduced downside risk. Backtesting of the Quality Grade shows that stocks with higher grades, on average, outperformed stocks with lower grades over the period of 1998 through 2019.

Stocks receive better grades (higher scores) for having higher scores for the quality subcomponents and worse grades (lower scores) for lower scores for the subcomponents.

Avista Corporation has a Quality Score of 45, which is Average. Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. has a Quality Score of 28, which is Weak.

The Quality Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither Avista Corporation or Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. has a high enough Quality Grade to be considered a “winner.” Investors who are considering these companies should do additional due diligence and research to see if either could be a good addition to their portfolios. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if Avista Corporation or Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. is the better investment when it comes to quality.

Avista Corporation and Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp.’s Momentum Grades

Company	Ticker	Momentum
Avista Corporation	AVA	D
Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp.	AQN	D

Momentum grades help to uncover stocks experiencing anomalously high rates of return; research finds that stocks with high relative levels of momentum tend to outperform, whereas those with low levels of momentum tend to continue underperforming. Momentum is based on the price change of a stock over a specified period relative to all other stocks.

Typically, AAII looks at the weighted relative strength over the trailing four quarters. The weighted four-quarter relative strength rank is the relative price change for each of the past four quarters. The most recent quarterly price change is given a weight of 40% and each of the three previous quarters are given a weighting of 20%.

Avista Corporation has a Momentum Score of 35, which is Weak. Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. has a Momentum Score of 40, which is Weak.

The Momentum Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither Avista Corporation or Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. has a strong enough Momentum Grade to be considered a “winner.” Investors considering these companies should do additional due diligence and research to see if either could be a good addition to their portfolios. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if Avista Corporation or Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. is the better investment when it comes to momentum.

Avista Corporation and Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp.’s Estimate Revisions Grades

Company	Ticker	Earnings Estimate
Avista Corporation	AVA	B
Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp.	AQN	C

Earnings estimate revisions scores consider the magnitude of a company’s earnings surprise in its last two reported fiscal quarters. Often, positive surprises beget further positive surprises‐or at least continued sales growth (the exact opposite is generally true, too).

Estimate revisions offer an indication of what analysts are thinking about the short-term prospects of a firm. Estimate revisions are based on the statistical significance of a firm’s last two quarterly earnings surprises and the percentage change in its consensus estimate for the current fiscal year over the past month and past three months.

Avista Corporation has a Earnings Estimate Score of 61, which is Positive. Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. has a Earnings Estimate Score of 51, which is Neutral.

The Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade Winner: Avista Corporation

As you can clearly see from the Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade breakdown above, Avista Corporation has a better Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade than Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp.. For those who are specifically looking for companies with better short-term prospects when compared to other companies in the same industry, Avista Corporation could be a good stock to invest in. However, it’s important to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Other Avista Corporation and Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. Grades

In addition to Estimate Revisions, Quality and Momentum, A+ Investor also provides grades for Value and Growth.

Growth investing builds on the idea that stocks of companies exhibiting strong, consistent and prolonged growth outperform those of slower-growth companies. AAII measures growth through consistency of annual sales growth, five-year sales growth rankings adjusted for extreme levels, and consistency of positive annual cash from operations.

Successful stock investing involves buying low and selling high, so stock valuation is an important consideration for stock selection. Buying stocks that are going to go up typically means buying stocks that are undervalued in the first place, although momentum investors may argue that point.

These 2 key factors, when combined with the above, provide a holistic view into a particular stock. Further, by joining A+ Investor you can see whether Avista Corporation and Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, Avista Corporation or Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. Stock?

Overall, Avista Corporation stock has a Momentum Score of 35, Estimate Revisions Score of 61 and Quality Score of 45.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. stock has a Momentum Score of 40, Estimate Revisions Score of 51 and Quality Score of 28.

Comparing Avista Corporation and Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp.’s grades, scores and metrics can act as a solid basis to determine whether they may be a good investment or not. You’ll also want to look at your portfolio’s asset allocation as well as your risk tolerance and financial goals to see if either of these stocks would make a good fit for you. AAII can help you figure out which investments align with your individual needs and preferences.

Investors are encouraged to do their own due diligence and research. In this way, individuals can effectively become managers of their own assets‐without having to rely on others for financial independence. You can count on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis.

A+ Investor adds to our qualitative teaching with a powerful data suite to help you whittle down investment choices to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.

AAII Disclaimer

We make no representations or warranties that any investor will, or is likely to, achieve profits similar to those shown, because past, hypothetical or simulated performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Before making an investment decision, you should consider your circumstances and whether the information on our content is applicable to your situation. This information was prepared in good faith, and we accept no liability for any errors or omissions. The full disclaimer can be read here.