Investors with an interest in Banks - Foreign stocks have likely encountered both Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) and ICICI Bank Limited (IBN). 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.
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 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.
Bank of Nova Scotia and ICICI Bank Limited are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (Buy) and #4 (Sell), respectively, right now. Investors should feel comfortable knowing that BNS likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than IBN has recently. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.
Value investors also tend to look at a number of traditional, tried-and-true figures to help them find stocks that they believe are undervalued at their current share price levels.
The Value category of the Style Scores system identifies undervalued companies by looking at a number of key metrics. These include the long-favored P/E ratio, P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a variety of other fundamentals that help us determine a company's fair value.
BNS currently has a forward P/E ratio of 13.11, while IBN has a forward P/E of 19.52. We also note that BNS has a PEG ratio of 1.51. 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. IBN currently has a PEG ratio of 1.53.
Another notable valuation metric for BNS is its P/B ratio of 1.46. 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, IBN has a P/B of 2.73.
These metrics, and several others, help BNS earn a Value grade of B, while IBN has been given a Value grade of D.
BNS has seen stronger estimate revision activity and sports more attractive valuation metrics than IBN, so it seems like value investors will conclude that BNS is the superior option right now.
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Bank of Nova Scotia (The) (BNS): Free Stock Analysis Report ICICI Bank Limited (IBN): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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