CODYY or JHX: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

Investors interested in Building Products - Miscellaneous stocks are likely familiar with Compagnie de Saint-Gobain - Unsponsored ADR (CODYY) and James Hardie (JHX). But which of these two stocks is more attractive to value investors? We'll need to take a closer look to find out.

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 puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

Compagnie de Saint-Gobain - Unsponsored ADR and James Hardie are sporting Zacks Ranks of #1 (Strong Buy) and #4 (Sell), respectively, right now. Investors should feel comfortable knowing that CODYY likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than JHX has recently. But this is only part of the picture for value investors.

Value investors analyze a variety of traditional, tried-and-true metrics to help find companies that they believe are undervalued at their 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.

CODYY currently has a forward P/E ratio of 13.27, while JHX has a forward P/E of 14.17. We also note that CODYY has a PEG ratio of 2.73. 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. JHX currently has a PEG ratio of 4.54.

Another notable valuation metric for CODYY is its P/B ratio of 1.80. 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, JHX has a P/B of 4.60.

Based on these metrics and many more, CODYY holds a Value grade of B, while JHX has a Value grade of D.

CODYY 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 CODYY 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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