RIO vs. NGLOY: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

Investors looking for stocks in the Mining - Miscellaneous sector might want to consider either Rio Tinto (RIO) or Anglo American (NGLOY). 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 proven Zacks Rank emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.

Rio Tinto has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Anglo American has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now. This means that RIO's earnings estimate revision activity has been more impressive, so investors should feel comfortable with its improving analyst outlook. 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.

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.

RIO currently has a forward P/E ratio of 11.14, while NGLOY has a forward P/E of 34.32. We also note that RIO has a PEG ratio of 4.74. This popular figure is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also considers a company's expected EPS growth rate. NGLOY currently has a PEG ratio of 6.29.

Another notable valuation metric for RIO is its P/B ratio of 1.34. 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, NGLOY has a P/B of 1.57.

These metrics, and several others, help RIO earn a Value grade of A, while NGLOY has been given a Value grade of C.

RIO is currently sporting an improving earnings outlook, which makes it stick out in our Zacks Rank model. And, based on the above valuation metrics, we feel that RIO is likely the superior value option right now.

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

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