IFS vs. BX: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

Investors interested in stocks from the Financial - Miscellaneous Services sector have probably already heard of Intercorp Financial Services Inc. (IFS) and Blackstone Inc. (BX). 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.

Everyone has their own methods for finding great value opportunities, but our model includes pairing an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system with a strong Zacks Rank. The proven Zacks Rank emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.

Right now, Intercorp Financial Services Inc. is sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Blackstone Inc. has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that IFS has an improving earnings 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 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.

IFS currently has a forward P/E ratio of 8.45, while BX has a forward P/E of 26.17. We also note that IFS has a PEG ratio of 0.35. 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. BX currently has a PEG ratio of 1.11.

Another notable valuation metric for IFS is its P/B ratio of 1.36. 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, BX has a P/B of 5.17.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to IFS's Value grade of A and BX's Value grade of D.

IFS sticks out from BX in both our Zacks Rank and Style Scores models, so value investors will likely feel that IFS is the better option right now.

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

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