ZTO vs. RXO: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

Investors looking for stocks in the Transportation - Services sector might want to consider either ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. (ZTO) or RXO (RXO). But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? Let's take a closer look.

The best way to find great value stocks is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with an impressive 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.

Right now, ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. is sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while RXO has a Zacks Rank of #5 (Strong Sell). This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that ZTO is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

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 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.

ZTO currently has a forward P/E ratio of 14.13, while RXO has a forward P/E of 297.54. We also note that ZTO has a PEG ratio of 4.56. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. RXO currently has a PEG ratio of 8.47.

Another notable valuation metric for ZTO is its P/B ratio of 1.65. 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, RXO has a P/B of 1.68.

These metrics, and several others, help ZTO earn a Value grade of B, while RXO has been given a Value grade of F.

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

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

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