Investors looking for stocks in the Waste Removal Services sector might want to consider either Veolia Environnement SA (VEOEY) or Zurn Water (ZWS). But which of these two stocks offers value investors a better bang for their buck right now? We'll need to take a closer look.
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.
Veolia Environnement SA and Zurn Water are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (Buy) and #3 (Hold), respectively, right now. Investors should feel comfortable knowing that VEOEY likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than ZWS has recently. However, value investors will care about much more than just this.
Value investors also try to analyze a wide range of traditional figures and metrics to help determine whether a company is undervalued at its current share price levels.
The Value category of the Style Scores system identifies undervalued companies by looking at a number of key metrics. These include the long-favored P/E ratio, P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a variety of other fundamentals that help us determine a company's fair value.
VEOEY currently has a forward P/E ratio of 12.73, while ZWS has a forward P/E of 27.88. We also note that VEOEY has a PEG ratio of 1.18. This popular figure is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also considers a company's expected EPS growth rate. ZWS currently has a PEG ratio of 1.99.
Another notable valuation metric for VEOEY is its P/B ratio of 1.78. 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, ZWS has a P/B of 4.85.
Based on these metrics and many more, VEOEY holds a Value grade of B, while ZWS has a Value grade of C.
VEOEY sticks out from ZWS in both our Zacks Rank and Style Scores models, so value investors will likely feel that VEOEY is the better option right now.
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Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor (ZWS) : Free Stock Analysis Report
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.
