Investors with an interest in Utility - Electric Power stocks have likely encountered both Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (BIP Quick QuoteBIP - Free Report) and Southern Co. (SO Quick QuoteSO - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks is more attractive to value investors? We'll need to take a closer look to find out.

There are plenty of strategies for discovering value stocks, but we have found that pairing a strong Zacks Rank with an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system produces the best returns. The Zacks Rank favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Southern Co. has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now. This means that BIP's earnings estimate revision activity has been more impressive, so investors should feel comfortable with its improving analyst outlook. However, value investors will care about much more than just this.

Value investors are also interested in a number of tried-and-true valuation metrics that help show when a company is undervalued at its current share price levels.

Our Value category grades stocks based on a number of key metrics, including the tried-and-true P/E ratio, the P/S ratio, earnings yield, and cash flow per share, as well as a variety of other fundamentals that value investors frequently use.

BIP currently has a forward P/E ratio of 12.03, while SO has a forward P/E of 16.46. We also note that BIP has a PEG ratio of 1.34. This figure is similar to the commonly-used P/E ratio, with the PEG ratio also factoring in a company's expected earnings growth rate. SO currently has a PEG ratio of 3.66.

Another notable valuation metric for BIP is its P/B ratio of 1.07. The P/B ratio is used to compare a stock's market value with its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. For comparison, SO has a P/B of 1.86.

Based on these metrics and many more, BIP holds a Value grade of B, while SO has a Value grade of C.

BIP has seen stronger estimate revision activity and sports more attractive valuation metrics than SO, so it seems like value investors will conclude that BIP is the superior option right now.