Investors interested in Medical - Dental Supplies stocks are likely familiar with The Cooper Companies (COO) and Straumann Holding AG (SAUHY). 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 emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.
Right now, The Cooper Companies is sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Straumann Holding AG has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell). This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that COO is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. But this is only part of the picture 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 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.
COO currently has a forward P/E ratio of 13.27, while SAUHY has a forward P/E of 27.23. We also note that COO has a PEG ratio of 1.58. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. SAUHY currently has a PEG ratio of 2.27.
Another notable valuation metric for COO is its P/B ratio of 1.43. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. For comparison, SAUHY has a P/B of 6.65.
These are just a few of the metrics contributing to COO's Value grade of B and SAUHY's Value grade of D.
COO sticks out from SAUHY in both our Zacks Rank and Style Scores models, so value investors will likely feel that COO is the better option right now.
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
The Cooper Companies, Inc. (COO) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Straumann Holding AG (SAUHY) : Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
