LXFR vs. IR: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

Investors with an interest in Manufacturing - General Industrial stocks have likely encountered both Luxfer (LXFR) and Ingersoll Rand (IR). 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.

Everyone has their own methods for finding great value opportunities, but our model includes pairing an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system with a strong Zacks Rank. The proven Zacks Rank emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.

Currently, Luxfer has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Ingersoll Rand has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). Investors should feel comfortable knowing that LXFR likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than IR 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.

LXFR currently has a forward P/E ratio of 11.05, while IR has a forward P/E of 23.59. We also note that LXFR has a PEG ratio of 1.38. 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. IR currently has a PEG ratio of 3.21.

Another notable valuation metric for LXFR is its P/B ratio of 1.28. 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, IR has a P/B of 3.08.

Based on these metrics and many more, LXFR holds a Value grade of A, while IR has a Value grade of D.

LXFR has seen stronger estimate revision activity and sports more attractive valuation metrics than IR, so it seems like value investors will conclude that LXFR is the superior option right now.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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