PG&E Corp (PCG) stock analysis
PG&E Corp (PCG) clears 7 of this site's 8 mechanical value filters, 0 of 8 Buffett-style checks and 3 of 5 Lynch-style checks. A free-cash-flow DCF does not fit utilities companies, so no margin of safety is shown. Its earnings quality rates Strong and it returns −0.5% to shareholders net of dilution. Figures are as of October 23, 2026, from SEC filings and market data refreshed weekly; this is educational analysis, not investment advice.
Data as of October 23, 2026. Refreshed weekly from SEC filings and market data.
What does PG&E do?
PG&E Corporation is the parent of Pacific Gas and Electric, a utility that supplies electricity and natural gas across Northern and Central California.
What stands out about PG&E?
- Misses 1 of the 8 value filters. It fails vs 200-day MA (±12%) (-20.5%); the other 7 pass. See every filter.
- Close to its 52-week low. At $12.98, PCG is 8.6% above its low of $11.95 and 32.1% below its high of $19.11. See the range.
- Strongest against peers: P/E ratio. At 9.0× (peer median 21.2×) it ranks 3rd of 31 among utilities stocks this site tracks. See the ranking.
- Insiders have been buying. 1 open-market purchase was reported in SEC Form 4 filings in the last 90 days, about $0.4 million in all. See the Insider Buying Tracker.
How has PG&E's share price moved?
The interactive price chart needs JavaScript.
Is PG&E undervalued? The value diligence check
Every value-investing signal this site computes for this stock, gathered in one place: the same real numbers from the tools below, not a new score.
- Margin of safety (DCF) n/a (Utilities)
- P/E vs. its own history 9.0x · at/below its cheapest point Real range: 13.1x–19.1x over 4 years (net income per diluted share from each fiscal year's 10-K, paired with the real closing price at that fiscal year-end).
- Wall St. analyst rating Buy · 3.68/5 22 analysts this month: 4 strong buy, 7 buy, 11 hold, 0 sell, 0 strong sell (Finnhub). Down from 3.86 last month.
- Altman Z″-Score (bankruptcy risk) n/a (Utilities)
- Earnings quality (is the profit real?) Strong · 1 watch accruals −4.4% of assets · 288% of profit arrived as cash · stock comp 0.5% of revenue · share count +1.5% a year. From the latest 10-K (year to Dec 2025) - see the Earnings Quality Screener for how each check is scored.
- Shareholder yield (cash back to owners) −0.5% net Latest fiscal year (2025): dividends 0.0% + buybacks 0.0% − stock comp 0.5%, as a share of today's market cap. Stock comp outruns what comes back in cash. Over 14 years its split-adjusted share count rose 448%. See Shareholder Yield Leaders.
- Capital needed to grow (See's test) $7.49 per $1 of new profit · Capital-hungry · but only 4% return on capital Operating profit −$1.6B → $4.0B, capital needed $50B → $92B, 2016–2025 (3-year averages); return on capital now 4% before tax. Buffett's See's Candies needed $0.42 per $1 of new profit, FlightSafety $3.20, a typical grower about $5. See Capital-Light Compounders.
- PEG (growth at a reasonable price) 1.05 · About fair P/E 9.0× ÷ 8.5% a year of growth behind it. 98th lowest of 447 stocks with a usable PEG. Lynch's fair value is a PEG of 1; a very high PEG usually means almost no growth, a very low one a profit spike. See PEG Ratio Ranking.
- Compounder lenses (4) 2 of 4 · misses capital-light, cash back Capital-light growth: not cleared (profit started from a loss); Profit is real: cleared; Cash to owners: not cleared (−0.3% a year net); Fair price (PEG): cleared. See Compounders at a Fair Price, which also lets you move the PEG bar.
- Munger's Inversion Check 0 flags
- Standing vs. sector peers 1 of 6 measures above the median Compared with the 30 other utilities stocks this site tracks: 1 in the top third, 3 in the bottom third.
- Dividend payout sustainability 0/6 · clean
How does PG&E compare with its peers?
1 of 6 measure sits above the median of the 30 other utilities stocks tracked here, 1 in the top third and 3 in the bottom third.
- P/E ratiolower is cheaper · peer median 21.2× 9.0× ✓3rd of 31
- Return on equityhigher is better · peer median 10% 10% –21st of 31
- Net marginhigher is better · peer median 14.1% 12.3% –21st of 31
- Revenue growthhigher is better, year on year · peer median 7.5% 5.7% ✕24th of 31
- Debt / equitylower is safer · peer median 1.77 1.89 ✕22nd of 31
- Dividend yieldamong dividend payers · peer median 3.01% 1.50% ✕30th of 31
Peers are the stocks this site tracks in the same sector group, not every listed competitor. The bar runs from the weakest peer (left) to the strongest (right); the tick is the middle. Measures that don't apply to a sector (cash-flow yield for banks, debt for financials) are left out.
What would Buffett & Lynch say?
Buffett's checklist is built around durable, profitable businesses bought at sensible prices, and PCG doesn't clear enough of it yet. Where it comes up short: PCG isn't clearing the return-on-equity bar he'd want to see right now, and its five-year average return on equity falls short too, so this isn't just a one-off dip, carries more debt relative to equity than he typically tolerates, runs thinner pretax margins than he'd like to see, hasn't grown earnings per share fast enough over five years to impress him, doesn't cover its interest expense as comfortably as he'd want, is trading above what a conservative discounted-cash-flow estimate says it's worth right now, and trades rich relative to owner earnings, the real cash the business could pay out.
- ROE (TTM) > 11% ✕
- ROE (5yr avg) > 11% ✕
- Debt/Equity < 0.5 ✕
- Pretax margin > 15% ✕
- EPS growth (5yr) > 7% ✕
- Interest coverage > 5x ✕
- Trading below intrinsic value (DCF) ✕
- Price vs. owner earnings < 25x ✕
Lynch looked for growth stories that weren't overpriced for that growth, and PCG falls short of his bar. In its favor: PCG is growing earnings 20-50% a year, his classic fast-grower zone, isn't asking too much even by a fast grower's usual richer multiple, and is generating real cash to back up a fast grower's higher price tag. Where it comes up short: PCG doesn't clear the tighter PEG bar a fast grower needs to justify its pace, and is leaning on more debt than he liked a growth story to carry.
- PEG < 1 (stricter for fast growers) ✕
- EPS growth 20%-50% ✓
- Debt/Equity < 0.5 ✕
- P/E < 40 ✓
- Price/FCF < 40 ✓
- Bonus: insiders buying (90d) 1 buy, ~$0.4M
Quantitative approximations of each investor's documented approach, not endorsed by either investor or their estates - commentary, not this site's actual ranking criteria. Buffett never published a numeric checklist: only 2 of his 8 checks here trace to his own documented concepts ("owner earnings," from his 1986 shareholder letter, and "price is what you pay, value is what you get," his case against fixed P/E/P/B ceilings) - the other 6 (ROE, debt, margins, growth, interest coverage) use commonly-cited thresholds that are not numbers he himself published. The 8 hard filters below (plus the Munger check and Graham margin of safety) are this site's real, mechanical screen and are computed completely independently of the checklists above.
Berkshire Hathaway's own filing
Which of the 8 value filters does PG&E pass?
- Market Cap > $25B $28.4B
- Trailing P/E < 25 8.96
- PEG Ratio < 1.5 1.05
- Price/Book < 8 0.84
- Price/Sales < 7 1.10
- EPS Growth YoY > -5% +33.6%
- vs 50-day MA (±12%) -8.7%
- vs 200-day MA (±12%) -20.5%
What is PG&E's margin of safety?
A standard free-cash-flow DCF doesn't fit how utilities companies report cash flow.
Where is PG&E in its 52-week range?
What is the short interest in PG&E?
36,412,634 shares short as of 2026-09-30 (FINRA settlement date). Reported twice a month, so this only changes roughly every two weeks, not daily.
What could go wrong with PG&E? Munger's inversion check
"Invert, always invert." Instead of reasons to buy, these are reasons to hesitate, not a verdict, and not everything worth knowing about a business.
- Margin of safety, even in the bull case n/a (Utilities)
- Short interest under 5% of float 1.7%
- Passes most of the 6 fundamental filters 6/6 passed
Doesn't cover circle of competence, management quality, or accounting concerns: those need judgment, not data.
How much have PG&E shareholders gained per year?
Not enough clean earnings history to compute this for PCG yet - a loss year in the window breaks the growth math rather than faking a number through it.
An earnings-based proxy, not a stock-price total return - it doesn't capture multiple expansion/contraction or reinvested dividends. EPS from PCG's own 10-K filings; dividend yield is the current trailing yield on today's price, from the same weekly fetch as the rest of this site.
What do PG&E's 10-year financials show?
From PCG's own 10-K filings (SEC EDGAR): up to the last 10 fiscal years. Press any year's bars for the exact figures.
Frequently asked questions about PG&E
What kind of company is PG&E?
PG&E Corporation is the parent of Pacific Gas and Electric, a utility that supplies electricity and natural gas across Northern and Central California. This site groups it with Utilities stocks.
Why does PG&E have no margin of safety on this site?
This site's DCF values a company from its free cash flow, and that does not fit regulated utilities, which reinvest nearly all of their operating cash flow, so free cash flow per share is tiny next to the share price. So PCG gets no margin of safety; judge it on the other checks on this page, such as its filters, shareholder yield and ranking against its peers. The method is in the Intrinsic Value Calculator.
How many of this site's 8 value filters does PG&E pass?
PCG passes 7 of 8. It passes Market Cap > $25B ($28.4B), Trailing P/E < 25 (8.96), PEG Ratio < 1.5 (1.05), Price/Book < 8 (0.84), Price/Sales < 7 (1.10), EPS Growth YoY > -5% (+33.6%) and vs 50-day MA (±12%) (-8.7%). It misses vs 200-day MA (±12%) (-20.5%). The 8-filter list shows every stock that passes all of them.
Are PG&E's reported earnings reliable?
This site's earnings-quality check rates PCG Strong · 1 watch. accruals −4.4% of assets · 288% of profit arrived as cash · stock comp 0.5% of revenue · share count +1.5% a year. From the latest 10-K (year to Dec 2025). Concerns: share dilution (on watch). The five checks are the Beneish M-score (manipulation risk), accruals, cash conversion, stock-based compensation and share dilution; the Earnings Quality Screener shows how each is graded.
Where is PG&E trading compared with its 52-week range?
At $12.98, PCG trades 8.1% above its 52-week low of $11.95 and 32.1% below its 52-week high of $19.11. The Near 52-Week Low list tracks stocks in that position.
Are PG&E's insiders buying its shares?
Yes: 1 open-market insider purchase of PG&E shares, worth about $0.4 million in total, was reported in SEC Form 4 filings in the 90 days up to this page's last update. Only open-market purchases count here, not option exercises or stock awards. See the Insider Buying Tracker.
Where do these numbers come from?
- Financial statements: PG&E's 10-K annual report for the year ended Dec 31, 2025, filed Feb 12, 2026 (filing index). Every earlier year in the 10-year financials comes from the company's older 10-K filings, all listed on SEC EDGAR.
- Prices and market data: quotes, P/E and analyst ratings from Finnhub; daily price history and the 52-week range from Twelve Data, both refreshed weekly. Short interest comes from FINRA, reported twice a month.
- How to check a figure: click any number in the card above to see its exact source, and read the Editorial Standards for every rule behind the checks.
About this PG&E Corp analysis
This page shows every value-investing check the site runs on PG&E Corp (PCG) in one place: the 8 mechanical filters, the Buffett and Lynch checklists, a margin of safety from a disclosed DCF, earnings quality, shareholder yield and how it ranks against its sector peers. The numbers come from SEC filings and public market data, refreshed weekly, and the same rules apply to every stock on the stock list. See Editorial Standards for the sources and the rules, or run your own filters in the stock screener.