ENS vs. ETN: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

Investors interested in stocks from the Manufacturing - Electronics sector have probably already heard of EnerSys (ENS) and Eaton (ETN). But which of these two stocks is more attractive to value investors? We'll need to take a closer look to find out.

The best way to find great value stocks is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system. The Zacks Rank favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.

EnerSys has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Eaton has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now. The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that ENS has an improving earnings outlook. 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.

ENS currently has a forward P/E ratio of 16.16, while ETN has a forward P/E of 29.67. We also note that ENS has a PEG ratio of 1.08. 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. ETN currently has a PEG ratio of 2.72.

Another notable valuation metric for ENS is its P/B ratio of 3.77. 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, ETN has a P/B of 7.88.

These metrics, and several others, help ENS earn a Value grade of B, while ETN has been given a Value grade of D.

ENS has seen stronger estimate revision activity and sports more attractive valuation metrics than ETN, so it seems like value investors will conclude that ENS is the superior option right now.

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

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