ZTO or ASR: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

Investors with an interest in Transportation - Services stocks have likely encountered both ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. (ZTO) and Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste (ASR). 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.

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.

ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. and Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (Buy) and #5 (Strong Sell), respectively, right now. This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that ZTO is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. But this is just one piece of the puzzle 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.

ZTO currently has a forward P/E ratio of 12.48, while ASR has a forward P/E of 14.39. We also note that ZTO has a PEG ratio of 7.30. 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. ASR currently has a PEG ratio of 8.32.

Another notable valuation metric for ZTO is its P/B ratio of 1.26. The P/B is a method of comparing a stock's market value to its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. By comparison, ASR has a P/B of 2.84.

These metrics, and several others, help ZTO earn a Value grade of B, while ASR has been given a Value grade of F.

ZTO 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 ZTO 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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