Investors looking for stocks in the Financial - Investment Management sector might want to consider either AllianceBernstein (AB) or BlackRock (BLK). But which of these two companies is the best option for those looking for undervalued stocks? Let's take a closer look.
We have found that the best way to discover great value opportunities is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with a great grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system. The Zacks Rank favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.
AllianceBernstein and BlackRock are sporting Zacks Ranks of #1 (Strong Buy) and #3 (Hold), respectively, right now. Investors should feel comfortable knowing that AB likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than BLK has recently. 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.
The Style Score Value grade factors in a variety of key fundamental metrics, including the popular P/E ratio, P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a number of other key stats that are commonly used by value investors.
AB currently has a forward P/E ratio of 12.93, while BLK has a forward P/E of 23.83. We also note that AB has a PEG ratio of 1.68. 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. BLK currently has a PEG ratio of 2.27.
Another notable valuation metric for AB is its P/B ratio of 2.4. 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, BLK has a P/B of 3.61.
Based on these metrics and many more, AB holds a Value grade of B, while BLK has a Value grade of D.
AB sticks out from BLK in both our Zacks Rank and Style Scores models, so value investors will likely feel that AB is the better option right now.
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AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (AB): Free Stock Analysis Report BlackRock (BLK): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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