ASB or UMBF: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

Investors with an interest in Banks - Midwest stocks have likely encountered both Associated Banc-Corp (ASB) and UMB Financial (UMBF). But which of these two stocks is more attractive to value investors? We'll need to take a closer look to find out.

There are plenty of strategies for discovering value stocks, but we have found that pairing a strong Zacks Rank with an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system produces the best returns. The proven Zacks Rank puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

Associated Banc-Corp and UMB Financial are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (Buy) and #4 (Sell), respectively, right now. This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that ASB is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

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.

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.

ASB currently has a forward P/E ratio of 10.37, while UMBF has a forward P/E of 11.83. We also note that ASB has a PEG ratio of 1.13. 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. UMBF currently has a PEG ratio of 1.29.

Another notable valuation metric for ASB is its P/B ratio of 0.95. 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, UMBF has a P/B of 1.26.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to ASB's Value grade of B and UMBF's Value grade of D.

ASB 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 ASB is likely the superior value option right now.

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

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