Investors looking for stocks in the Insurance - Life Insurance sector might want to consider either Voya Financial (VOYA) or The Baldwin Insurance Group (BWIN). 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 puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.
Voya Financial has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while The Baldwin Insurance Group has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell) right now. This means that VOYA's earnings estimate revision activity has been more impressive, so investors should feel comfortable with its improving analyst 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.
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.
VOYA currently has a forward P/E ratio of 8.24, while BWIN has a forward P/E of 17.25. We also note that VOYA has a PEG ratio of 0.54. 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. BWIN currently has a PEG ratio of 0.92.
Another notable valuation metric for VOYA is its P/B ratio of 1.1. 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, BWIN has a P/B of 3.25.
Based on these metrics and many more, VOYA holds a Value grade of B, while BWIN has a Value grade of D.
VOYA has seen stronger estimate revision activity and sports more attractive valuation metrics than BWIN, so it seems like value investors will conclude that VOYA is the superior option right now.
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Voya Financial, Inc. (VOYA): Free Stock Analysis Report Baldwin Insurance Group, Inc. (BWIN): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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