HMY or FNV: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

Investors looking for stocks in the Mining - Gold sector might want to consider either Harmony Gold (HMY) or Franco-Nevada (FNV). But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? Let's 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.

Harmony Gold and Franco-Nevada are sporting Zacks Ranks of #1 (Strong Buy) and #3 (Hold), respectively, right now. Investors should feel comfortable knowing that HMY likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than FNV has recently. But this is only part of the picture for value investors.

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 grades stocks based on a number of key metrics, including the tried-and-true P/E ratio, the P/S ratio, earnings yield, and cash flow per share, as well as a variety of other fundamentals that value investors frequently use.

HMY currently has a forward P/E ratio of 5.04, while FNV has a forward P/E of 35.78. We also note that HMY has a PEG ratio of 0.09. 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. FNV currently has a PEG ratio of 2.26.

Another notable valuation metric for HMY is its P/B ratio of 3.55. 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, FNV has a P/B of 5.05.

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

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

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

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