Investors interested in Aerospace - Defense stocks are likely familiar with Huntington Ingalls (HII) and RTX (RTX). But which of these two stocks is more attractive to value investors? We'll need to take a closer look to find out.
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.
Huntington Ingalls and RTX are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (Buy) and #3 (Hold), respectively, right now. This means that HII's earnings estimate revision activity has been more impressive, so investors should feel comfortable with its improving analyst outlook. However, value investors will care about much more than just this.
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.
HII currently has a forward P/E ratio of 16.65, while RTX has a forward P/E of 21.30. We also note that HII has a PEG ratio of 1.51. 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. RTX currently has a PEG ratio of 2.30.
Another notable valuation metric for HII is its P/B ratio of 1.92. 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, RTX has a P/B of 2.71.
These metrics, and several others, help HII earn a Value grade of B, while RTX has been given a Value grade of C.
HII 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 HII is likely the superior value option right now.
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Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. (HII): Free Stock Analysis Report RTX Corporation (RTX): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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