BMA or NABZY: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

Investors looking for stocks in the Banks - Foreign sector might want to consider either Banco Macro (BMA) or National Australia Bank Ltd. (NABZY). 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.

Right now, Banco Macro is sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), while National Australia Bank Ltd. has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy). Investors should feel comfortable knowing that BMA likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than NABZY has recently. But this is only part of the picture for value investors.

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.

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.

BMA currently has a forward P/E ratio of 7.67, while NABZY has a forward P/E of 15.31. We also note that BMA has a PEG ratio of 0.29. This figure is similar to the commonly-used P/E ratio, with the PEG ratio also factoring in a company's expected earnings growth rate. NABZY currently has a PEG ratio of 4.92.

Another notable valuation metric for BMA is its P/B ratio of 0.93. Investors use the P/B ratio to look at a stock's market value versus its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. By comparison, NABZY has a P/B of 1.94.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to BMA's Value grade of A and NABZY's Value grade of D.

BMA stands above NABZY thanks to its solid earnings outlook, and based on these valuation figures, we also feel that BMA is the superior value option right now.

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

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