Investors interested in stocks from the Manufacturing - Tools & Related Products sector have probably already heard of Kennametal (KMT) and Lincoln Electric Holdings (LECO). 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.
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 emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.
Currently, Kennametal has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Lincoln Electric Holdings has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that KMT has an improving earnings outlook. 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.
KMT currently has a forward P/E ratio of 16.79, while LECO has a forward P/E of 23.81. We also note that KMT has a PEG ratio of 0.64. 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. LECO currently has a PEG ratio of 1.59.
Another notable valuation metric for KMT is its P/B ratio of 2.18. 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, LECO has a P/B of 9.59.
These are just a few of the metrics contributing to KMT's Value grade of B and LECO's Value grade of D.
KMT sticks out from LECO in both our Zacks Rank and Style Scores models, so value investors will likely feel that KMT is the better option right now.
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Kennametal Inc. (KMT): Free Stock Analysis Report
Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (LECO): Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).