Investors with an interest in Schools stocks have likely encountered both Afya (AFYA) and American Public Education (APEI). But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? Let's take a closer look.
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 proven Zacks Rank emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.
Afya has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while American Public Education 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 AFYA has an improving earnings outlook. 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 highlights undervalued companies by looking at a variety of key metrics, including the popular P/E ratio, as well as the P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a variety of other fundamentals that have been used by value investors for years.
AFYA currently has a forward P/E ratio of 7.27, while APEI has a forward P/E of 21.09. We also note that AFYA has a PEG ratio of 0.82. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. APEI currently has a PEG ratio of 1.41.
Another notable valuation metric for AFYA is its P/B ratio of 1.45. The P/B is a method of comparing a stock's market value to its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. By comparison, APEI has a P/B of 3.22.
These metrics, and several others, help AFYA earn a Value grade of A, while APEI has been given a Value grade of C.
AFYA 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 AFYA is likely the superior value option right now.
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Afya Limited (AFYA): Free Stock Analysis Report
American Public Education, Inc. (APEI): Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).