Sifting through countless of stocks in the Electric 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 IDACORP, Inc. or The AES Corporation 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 IDACORP, Inc. and The AES Corporation compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About IDACORP, Inc. and The AES Corporation

IDACORP, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, transmission, distribution, purchase, and sale of electric energy in the United States. The company operates 17 hydropower generating plants located in southern Idaho and eastern Oregon; and three natural gas-fired plants situated in southern Idaho, as well as interests in a coal-fired and natural gas-fired steam generating plant located in Wyoming; and interests in a coal-fired steam generating plant situated in Nevada. As of December 31, 2025, it had approximately 4,730 pole miles of high-voltage transmission lines; 23 step-up transmission substations located at power plants; 21 transmission substations; 12 switching stations; 31 mixed-use transmission and distribution substations; 188 energized distribution substations; approximately 30,020 linear miles of distribution lines; and a capacity of 1,228 MWh of battery storage. The company provides electric utility services to approximately 664,000 retail customers in southern Idaho and eastern Oregon. It serves commercial and industrial customers, which involved in food processing, electronics and general manufacturing, agriculture, health care, government, education, and information technology. The company also invests in housing and other real estate tax credit investments. IDACORP, Inc. was founded in 1915 and is headquartered in Boise, Idaho.

The AES Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a power generation and utility company. It operates through four segments: Renewables, Utilities, Energy Infrastructure, and New Energy Technologies. The company owns and/or operates power plants to generate and sell power to customers, such as utilities, industrial users, and other intermediaries; owns and/or operates utilities to generate or purchase, distribute, transmit, and sell electricity to end-user customers in the residential, commercial, industrial, and governmental sectors; and generates and sells electricity on the wholesale market, as well as investments in technologies to support leading-edge greener energy solutions. It uses various fuels and technologies to generate electricity, such as solar, hydro, wind, coal, and gas, as well as renewables comprising energy storage and landfill gas. The company owns and/or operates a generation portfolio of approximately 34,740 megawatts and distributes power to 2.7 million customers. The company operates in the United States, Chile, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Mexico, Bulgaria, Panama, Colombia, Argentina, Vietnam, Jordan, Puerto Rico, and internationally. The company was formerly known as Applied Energy Services, Inc. and changed its name to The AES Corporation in April 2000. The AES Corporation was incorporated in 1981 and is based in Arlington, Virginia.

Latest Electric Utilities and IDACORP, Inc., The AES Corporation Stock News

As of September 1, 2026, IDACORP, Inc. had a $7.9 billion market capitalization, compared to the Electric Utilities median of $17.6 million. IDACORP, Inc.’s stock is up 7.3% in 2026, down 1.7% in the previous five trading days and up 9.03% in the past year.

Currently, IDACORP, Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 22.6. IDACORP, Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $1.8 billion with a 18.8% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 4.2%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $6.377 per share for the current fiscal year. IDACORP, Inc. currently has a 2.6% dividend yield.

As of September 1, 2026, The AES Corporation had a $10.5 billion market cap, putting it in the 78th percentile of all stocks. The AES Corporation’s stock is up 3.1% in 2026, up 0.4% in the previous five trading days and up 9.08% in the past year.

Currently, The AES Corporation’s price-earnings ratio is 5.5. The AES Corporation’s trailing 12-month revenue is $13.1 billion with a 14.3% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 19.9%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $2.020 per share for the current fiscal year. The AES Corporation currently has a 4.8% dividend yield.

How We Compare IDACORP, Inc. and The AES Corporation 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 IDACORP, Inc. and The AES Corporation’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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IDACORP, Inc. and The AES Corporation Stock Value Grades

Company	Ticker	Value
IDACORP, Inc.	IDA	D
The AES Corporation	AES	A

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.

AAII’s A+ Investor Value Grade derives from a stock’s value score. The Value Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of the price-to-sales ratio, price-earnings ratio, enterprise-value-to-EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) ratio, shareholder yield, price-to-book-value ratio and price-to-free-cash-flow ratio. The score is variable, meaning it can consider all six ratios or, should any of the six ratios not be valid, the remaining ratios that are valid. To be assigned a Value Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) ratio and corresponding ranking for at least two of the six valuation ratios.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are a good value and so on.

IDACORP, Inc. has a Value Score of 34, which is Expensive. The AES Corporation has a Value Score of 83, which is Deep Value.

The Value Stock Winner: The AES Corporation

As you can clearly see from the Value Grade breakdown above, The AES Corporation is considered to have better value than IDACORP, Inc.. For investors who focus solely on a company’s valuation, The AES Corporation could be a good stock to add to their portfolio. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

IDACORP, Inc. and The AES Corporation’s Quality Grades

Company	Ticker	Quality
IDACORP, Inc.	IDA	D
The AES Corporation	AES	C

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.

IDACORP, Inc. has a Quality Score of 38, which is Weak. The AES Corporation has a Quality Score of 45, which is Average.

The Quality Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither IDACORP, Inc. or The AES Corporation 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 IDACORP, Inc. or The AES Corporation is the better investment when it comes to quality.

IDACORP, Inc. and The AES Corporation’s Momentum Grades

Company	Ticker	Momentum
IDACORP, Inc.	IDA	C
The AES Corporation	AES	C

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%.

IDACORP, Inc. has a Momentum Score of 46, which is Average. The AES Corporation has a Momentum Score of 46, which is Average.

The Momentum Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither IDACORP, Inc. or The AES Corporation 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 IDACORP, Inc. or The AES Corporation is the better investment when it comes to momentum.

Other IDACORP, Inc. and The AES Corporation Grades

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

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

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.

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 IDACORP, Inc. and The AES Corporation pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, IDACORP, Inc. or The AES Corporation Stock?

Overall, IDACORP, Inc. stock has a Value Score of 34, Momentum Score of 46 and Quality Score of 38.

The AES Corporation stock has a Value Score of 83, Momentum Score of 46 and Quality Score of 45.

Comparing IDACORP, Inc. and The AES Corporation’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.