IFS vs. AXP: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

Investors interested in stocks from the Financial - Miscellaneous Services sector have probably already heard of Intercorp Financial Services Inc. (IFS) and American Express (AXP). But which of these two stocks is more attractive to value investors? We'll need to take a closer look to find out.

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.

Right now, Intercorp Financial Services Inc. is sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while American Express has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). Investors should feel comfortable knowing that IFS likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than AXP has recently. But this is just one piece of the puzzle for value investors.

Value investors also try to analyze a wide range of traditional figures and metrics to help determine whether a company is undervalued at its 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.

IFS currently has a forward P/E ratio of 8.71, while AXP has a forward P/E of 20.86. We also note that IFS has a PEG ratio of 0.35. 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. AXP currently has a PEG ratio of 1.54.

Another notable valuation metric for IFS is its P/B ratio of 1.46. 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, AXP has a P/B of 7.12.

These metrics, and several others, help IFS earn a Value grade of A, while AXP has been given a Value grade of C.

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

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

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