STNE vs. INFA: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

Investors interested in stocks from the Internet - Software sector have probably already heard of StoneCo Ltd. (STNE) and Informatica Inc. (INFA). 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.

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 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.

StoneCo Ltd. has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Informatica Inc. has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now. The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that STNE has an improving earnings outlook. But this is only part of the picture for value investors.

Value investors also try to analyze a wide range of traditional figures and metrics to help determine whether a company is undervalued at its current share price levels.

Our Value category highlights undervalued companies by looking at a variety of key metrics, including the popular P/E ratio, as well as the P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a variety of other fundamentals that have been used by value investors for years.

STNE currently has a forward P/E ratio of 11.61, while INFA has a forward P/E of 22.06. We also note that STNE has a PEG ratio of 0.38. 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. INFA currently has a PEG ratio of 2.90.

Another notable valuation metric for STNE is its P/B ratio of 2.62. 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, INFA has a P/B of 3.18.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to STNE's Value grade of B and INFA's Value grade of D.

STNE stands above INFA thanks to its solid earnings outlook, and based on these valuation figures, we also feel that STNE 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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