CARG vs. EBAY: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

Investors looking for stocks in the Internet - Commerce sector might want to consider either CarGurus (CARG) or eBay (EBAY). But which of these two stocks is more attractive to value investors? We'll need to take a closer look to find out.

We have found that the best way to discover great value opportunities is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with a great grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system. The proven Zacks Rank puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

CarGurus and eBay are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (Buy) and #3 (Hold), respectively, right now. This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that CARG 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 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.

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.

CARG currently has a forward P/E ratio of 11.00, while EBAY has a forward P/E of 18.38. We also note that CARG has a PEG ratio of 0.85. 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. EBAY currently has a PEG ratio of 2.37.

Another notable valuation metric for CARG is its P/B ratio of 9.75. 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, EBAY has a P/B of 10.68.

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

CARG 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 CARG 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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