Investors looking for stocks in the Oil and Gas - Production and Pipelines sector might want to consider either Ultrapar Participacoes S.A. (UGP) or Kinder Morgan (KMI). But which of these two stocks offers value investors a better bang for their buck right now? We'll need to 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.
Ultrapar Participacoes S.A. and Kinder Morgan 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. However, value investors will care about much more than just this.
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.
UGP currently has a forward P/E ratio of 14.50, while KMI has a forward P/E of 23.55. We also note that UGP has a PEG ratio of 1.87. 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. KMI currently has a PEG ratio of 3.01.
Another notable valuation metric for UGP is its P/B ratio of 2.04. 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, KMI has a P/B of 2.26.
Based on these metrics and many more, UGP holds a Value grade of A, while KMI has a Value grade of D.
Both UGP and KMI are impressive stocks with solid earnings outlooks, but based on these valuation figures, we feel that UGP is the superior value option right now.
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Ultrapar Participacoes S.A. (UGP): Free Stock Analysis Report
Kinder Morgan, Inc. (KMI): Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).