Investors with an interest in Medical - Products stocks have likely encountered both AdaptHealth Corp. (AHCO) and Stryker (SYK). 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.
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.
AdaptHealth Corp. has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Stryker has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now. The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that AHCO has an improving earnings outlook. But this is just one piece of the puzzle 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 Value category of the Style Scores system identifies undervalued companies by looking at a number of key metrics. These include the long-favored P/E ratio, P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a variety of other fundamentals that help us determine a company's fair value.
AHCO currently has a forward P/E ratio of 7.31, while SYK has a forward P/E of 27.24. We also note that AHCO has a PEG ratio of 0.80. 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. SYK currently has a PEG ratio of 2.78.
Another notable valuation metric for AHCO is its P/B ratio of 0.70. The P/B ratio is used to compare a stock's market value with its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. For comparison, SYK has a P/B of 6.77.
These metrics, and several others, help AHCO earn a Value grade of A, while SYK has been given a Value grade of D.
AHCO has seen stronger estimate revision activity and sports more attractive valuation metrics than SYK, so it seems like value investors will conclude that AHCO is the superior option right now.
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AdaptHealth Corp. (AHCO): Free Stock Analysis Report Stryker Corporation (SYK): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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