Investors with an interest in Wireless Equipment stocks have likely encountered both Ericsson (ERIC) and Motorola (MSI). 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.
Ericsson and Motorola are both sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) right now. Investors should feel comfortable knowing that both of these stocks have an improving earnings outlook since the Zacks Rank favors companies that have witnessed positive analyst estimate revisions. However, value investors will care about much more than just this.
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.
ERIC currently has a forward P/E ratio of 16.64, while MSI has a forward P/E of 24.81. We also note that ERIC has a PEG ratio of 1.97. This figure is similar to the commonly-used P/E ratio, with the PEG ratio also factoring in a company's expected earnings growth rate. MSI currently has a PEG ratio of 2.74.
Another notable valuation metric for ERIC is its P/B ratio of 3.26. 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, MSI has a P/B of 28.54.
These are just a few of the metrics contributing to ERIC's Value grade of B and MSI's Value grade of D.
Both ERIC and MSI are impressive stocks with solid earnings outlooks, but based on these valuation figures, we feel that ERIC is the superior value option right now.
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Ericsson (ERIC): Free Stock Analysis Report Motorola Solutions, Inc. (MSI): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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