UBS or CMWAY: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

Investors interested in Banks - Foreign stocks are likely familiar with UBS (UBS) and Commonwealth Bank of Australia Sponsored ADR (CMWAY). But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? Let's 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 Zacks Rank is a proven strategy that targets companies with positive earnings estimate revision trends, while our Style Scores work to grade companies based on specific traits.

UBS and Commonwealth Bank of Australia Sponsored ADR are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (Buy) and #4 (Sell), respectively, right now. This means that UBS's earnings estimate revision activity has been more impressive, so investors should feel comfortable with its improving analyst outlook. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

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.

UBS currently has a forward P/E ratio of 18.86, while CMWAY has a forward P/E of 26.73. We also note that UBS has a PEG ratio of 0.72. 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. CMWAY currently has a PEG ratio of 9.44.

Another notable valuation metric for UBS is its P/B ratio of 1.51. 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, CMWAY has a P/B of 3.6.

Based on these metrics and many more, UBS holds a Value grade of B, while CMWAY has a Value grade of D.

UBS stands above CMWAY thanks to its solid earnings outlook, and based on these valuation figures, we also feel that UBS is the superior value option right now.

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

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