Investors interested in Business - Services stocks are likely familiar with Bright Horizons Family Solutions (BFAM) and APi (APG). 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.
Everyone has their own methods for finding great value opportunities, but our model includes pairing an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system with a strong Zacks Rank. The proven Zacks Rank emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.
Bright Horizons Family Solutions and APi 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 BFAM is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. 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.
The Value category of the Style Scores system identifies undervalued companies by looking at a number of key metrics. These include the long-favored P/E ratio, P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a variety of other fundamentals that help us determine a company's fair value.
BFAM currently has a forward P/E ratio of 13.82, while APG has a forward P/E of 23.48. We also note that BFAM has a PEG ratio of 0.99. 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. APG currently has a PEG ratio of 2.35.
Another notable valuation metric for BFAM is its P/B ratio of 3.63. 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, APG has a P/B of 4.96.
These metrics, and several others, help BFAM earn a Value grade of A, while APG has been given a Value grade of C.
BFAM 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 BFAM is likely the superior value option right now.
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Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc. (BFAM): Free Stock Analysis Report
APi Group Corporation (APG): Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).