TRIP vs. EBAY: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

Investors looking for stocks in the Internet - Commerce sector might want to consider either TripAdvisor (TRIP) or eBay (EBAY). 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.

TripAdvisor and eBay are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (Buy) and #3 (Hold), respectively, right now. This means that TRIP's earnings estimate revision activity has been more impressive, so investors should feel comfortable with its improving analyst outlook. But this is only part of the picture for value investors.

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.

Our Value category grades stocks based on a number of key metrics, including the tried-and-true P/E ratio, the P/S ratio, earnings yield, and cash flow per share, as well as a variety of other fundamentals that value investors frequently use.

TRIP currently has a forward P/E ratio of 7.21, while EBAY has a forward P/E of 14.65. We also note that TRIP has a PEG ratio of 0.62. 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. EBAY currently has a PEG ratio of 1.63.

Another notable valuation metric for TRIP is its P/B ratio of 2.11. Investors use the P/B ratio to look at a stock's market value versus its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. By comparison, EBAY has a P/B of 8.29.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to TRIP's Value grade of A and EBAY's Value grade of C.

TRIP has seen stronger estimate revision activity and sports more attractive valuation metrics than EBAY, so it seems like value investors will conclude that TRIP is the superior option right now.

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

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