Investors interested in Insurance - Life Insurance stocks are likely familiar with Lincoln National (LNC) and The Baldwin Insurance Group (BWIN). 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.
Right now, Lincoln National is sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while The Baldwin Insurance Group has a Zacks Rank of #5 (Strong Sell). The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that LNC has an improving earnings outlook. However, value investors will care about much more than just this.
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.
LNC currently has a forward P/E ratio of 4.40, while BWIN has a forward P/E of 26.28. We also note that LNC has a PEG ratio of 0.26. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. BWIN currently has a PEG ratio of 0.79.
Another notable valuation metric for LNC is its P/B ratio of 0.65. 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, BWIN has a P/B of 4.48.
These metrics, and several others, help LNC earn a Value grade of A, while BWIN has been given a Value grade of F.
LNC stands above BWIN thanks to its solid earnings outlook, and based on these valuation figures, we also feel that LNC is the superior value option right now.
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Free: See Our Top Stock And 4 Runners UpLincoln National Corporation (LNC) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Baldwin Insurance Group, Inc. (BWIN) : Free Stock Analysis Report
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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.
