Investors interested in stocks from the Retail - Apparel and Shoes sector have probably already heard of Urban Outfitters (URBN) and Ermenegildo Zegna N.V. (ZGN). But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? Let's take a closer look.
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.
Currently, Urban Outfitters has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Ermenegildo Zegna N.V. has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that URBN has an improving earnings outlook. However, value investors will care about much more than just this.
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.
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.
URBN currently has a forward P/E ratio of 12.16, while ZGN has a forward P/E of 32.20. We also note that URBN has a PEG ratio of 1.38. 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. ZGN currently has a PEG ratio of 4.71.
Another notable valuation metric for URBN is its P/B ratio of 2.38. 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, ZGN has a P/B of 5.01.
These metrics, and several others, help URBN earn a Value grade of A, while ZGN has been given a Value grade of D.
URBN stands above ZGN thanks to its solid earnings outlook, and based on these valuation figures, we also feel that URBN is the superior value option right now.
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Urban Outfitters, Inc. (URBN): Free Stock Analysis Report
Ermenegildo Zegna N.V. (ZGN): Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).