TFX vs. SONVY: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

Investors interested in stocks from the Medical - Instruments sector have probably already heard of Teleflex (TFX) and SONOVA HOLDING (SONVY). But which of these two stocks is more attractive to value investors? We'll need to take a closer look to find out.

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 proven Zacks Rank emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.

Currently, Teleflex has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), while SONOVA HOLDING 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 TFX is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. But this is just one piece of the puzzle for value investors.

Value investors analyze a variety of traditional, tried-and-true metrics to help find companies that they believe are undervalued at their 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.

TFX currently has a forward P/E ratio of 8.16, while SONVY has a forward P/E of 21.94. We also note that TFX has a PEG ratio of 1.60. 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. SONVY currently has a PEG ratio of 2.14.

Another notable valuation metric for TFX is its P/B ratio of 1.2. 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, SONVY has a P/B of 5.4.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to TFX's Value grade of A and SONVY's Value grade of C.

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

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

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