Investors interested in stocks from the Banks - Southwest sector have probably already heard of First Horizon National (FHN) and Cullen/Frost Bankers (CFR). But which of these two stocks is more attractive to value investors? We'll need to take a closer look to find out.
The best way to find great value stocks is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system. The Zacks Rank favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.
First Horizon National has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Cullen/Frost Bankers 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 FHN has an improving earnings outlook. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.
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 grades stocks based on a number of key metrics, including the tried-and-true P/E ratio, the P/S ratio, earnings yield, and cash flow per share, as well as a variety of other fundamentals that value investors frequently use.
FHN currently has a forward P/E ratio of 12.79, while CFR has a forward P/E of 13.52. We also note that FHN has a PEG ratio of 1.06. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. CFR currently has a PEG ratio of 2.66.
Another notable valuation metric for FHN is its P/B ratio of 1.3. 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, CFR has a P/B of 2.01.
These are just a few of the metrics contributing to FHN's Value grade of B and CFR's Value grade of C.
FHN sticks out from CFR in both our Zacks Rank and Style Scores models, so value investors will likely feel that FHN is the better option right now.
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First Horizon Corporation (FHN): Free Stock Analysis Report Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (CFR): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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