Investors interested in Schools stocks are likely familiar with Adtalem Global Education (ATGE) and Universal Technical Institute (UTI). 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 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.
Adtalem Global Education and Universal Technical Institute are both sporting a Zacks Rank of # 2 (Buy) right now. This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that these stocks have improving earnings outlooks. 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 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.
ATGE currently has a forward P/E ratio of 19.90, while UTI has a forward P/E of 33.82. We also note that ATGE has a PEG ratio of 1.33. This popular figure is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also considers a company's expected EPS growth rate. UTI currently has a PEG ratio of 2.25.
Another notable valuation metric for ATGE is its P/B ratio of 3.37. 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, UTI has a P/B of 6.62.
Based on these metrics and many more, ATGE holds a Value grade of B, while UTI has a Value grade of C.
Both ATGE and UTI are impressive stocks with solid earnings outlooks, but based on these valuation figures, we feel that ATGE is the superior value option right now.
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Adtalem Global Education Inc. (ATGE): Free Stock Analysis Report Universal Technical Institute Inc (UTI): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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