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ATTO vs. PAYX: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

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Investors interested in stocks from the Outsourcing sector have probably already heard of Atento and Paychex (PAYX - Free Report) . 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 Zacks Rank is a proven strategy that targets companies with positive earnings estimate revision trends, while our Style Scores work to grade companies based on specific traits.

Atento and Paychex are sporting Zacks Ranks of #1 (Strong Buy) and #3 (Hold), respectively, right now. This means that ATTO's earnings estimate revision activity has been more impressive, so investors should feel comfortable with its improving analyst outlook. But this is only part of the picture for value investors.

Value investors are also interested in a number of tried-and-true valuation metrics that help show when a company is undervalued at its 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.

ATTO currently has a forward P/E ratio of 25.08, while PAYX has a forward P/E of 30.44. We also note that ATTO has a PEG ratio of 2.51. This popular figure is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also considers a company's expected EPS growth rate. PAYX currently has a PEG ratio of 3.81.

Another notable valuation metric for ATTO is its P/B ratio of 4.16. 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, PAYX has a P/B of 11.16.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to ATTO's Value grade of A and PAYX's Value grade of D.

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


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