Investors with an interest in Medical - Biomedical and Genetics stocks have likely encountered both Exelixis (EXEL) and Illumina (ILMN). 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 proven Zacks Rank puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.
Currently, both Exelixis and Illumina are holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy). Investors should feel comfortable knowing that both of these stocks have an improving earnings outlook since the Zacks Rank favors companies that have witnessed positive analyst estimate revisions. But this is just one piece of the puzzle for value investors.
Value investors also tend to look at a number of traditional, tried-and-true figures to help them find stocks that they believe are undervalued at their 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.
EXEL currently has a forward P/E ratio of 15.74, while ILMN has a forward P/E of 37.74. We also note that EXEL has a PEG ratio of 1.43. 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. ILMN currently has a PEG ratio of 2.91.
Another notable valuation metric for EXEL is its P/B ratio of 7.23. Investors use the P/B ratio to look at a stock's market value versus its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. By comparison, ILMN has a P/B of 11.13.
Based on these metrics and many more, EXEL holds a Value grade of B, while ILMN has a Value grade of C.
Both EXEL and ILMN are impressive stocks with solid earnings outlooks, but based on these valuation figures, we feel that EXEL is the superior value option right now.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
