BBSI vs. ATTO: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

Investors with an interest in Outsourcing stocks have likely encountered both Barrett Business Services (BBSI) and Atento (ATTO). But which of these two companies is the best option for those looking for undervalued stocks? Let's take a closer look.

The best way to find great value stocks is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system. The Zacks Rank favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.

Barrett Business Services and Atento are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (Buy) and #5 (Strong Sell), respectively, right now. Investors should feel comfortable knowing that BBSI likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than ATTO has recently. 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 highlights undervalued companies by looking at a variety of key metrics, including the popular P/E ratio, as well as the P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a variety of other fundamentals that have been used by value investors for years.

BBSI currently has a forward P/E ratio of 14.56, while ATTO has a forward P/E of 17.30. We also note that BBSI has a PEG ratio of 1.21. 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. ATTO currently has a PEG ratio of 1.44.

Another notable valuation metric for BBSI is its P/B ratio of 2.70. The P/B is a method of comparing a stock's market value to its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. By comparison, ATTO has a P/B of 12.64.

Based on these metrics and many more, BBSI holds a Value grade of A, while ATTO has a Value grade of C.

BBSI sticks out from ATTO in both our Zacks Rank and Style Scores models, so value investors will likely feel that BBSI is the better option right now.

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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.