Investors looking for stocks in the Computers - IT Services sector might want to consider either Cognizant (CTSH) or Epam (EPAM). 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 emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.
Currently, Cognizant has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Epam has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that CTSH has an improving earnings outlook. 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.
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.
CTSH currently has a forward P/E ratio of 14.85, while EPAM has a forward P/E of 15.63. We also note that CTSH has a PEG ratio of 1.73. 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. EPAM currently has a PEG ratio of 1.77.
Another notable valuation metric for CTSH is its P/B ratio of 2.49. 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, EPAM has a P/B of 2.66.
These are just a few of the metrics contributing to CTSH's Value grade of B and EPAM's Value grade of C.
CTSH sticks out from EPAM in both our Zacks Rank and Style Scores models, so value investors will likely feel that CTSH is the better option right now.
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Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation (CTSH): Free Stock Analysis Report EPAM Systems, Inc. (EPAM): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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