Investors looking for stocks in the Financial - Investment Bank sector might want to consider either The Charles Schwab Corporation (SCHW) or MarketAxess (MKTX). But which of these two companies is the best option for those looking for undervalued stocks? Let's 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 emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.
The Charles Schwab Corporation and MarketAxess are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (Buy) and #3 (Hold), respectively, right now. This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that SCHW is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. But this is only part of the picture for value investors.
Value investors are also interested in a number of tried-and-true valuation metrics that help show when a company is undervalued at its current share price levels.
Our Value category highlights undervalued companies by looking at a variety of key metrics, including the popular P/E ratio, as well as the P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a variety of other fundamentals that have been used by value investors for years.
SCHW currently has a forward P/E ratio of 19.30, while MKTX has a forward P/E of 21.68. We also note that SCHW has a PEG ratio of 0.82. 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. MKTX currently has a PEG ratio of 7.29.
Another notable valuation metric for SCHW is its P/B ratio of 3.95. 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, MKTX has a P/B of 4.34.
These metrics, and several others, help SCHW earn a Value grade of B, while MKTX has been given a Value grade of D.
SCHW 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 SCHW is likely the superior value option right now.
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The Charles Schwab Corporation (SCHW): Free Stock Analysis Report MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (MKTX): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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