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AB or SEIC: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors looking for stocks in the Financial - Investment Management sector might want to consider either AllianceBernstein (AB - Free Report) or SEI Investments (SEIC - 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.

There are plenty of strategies for discovering value stocks, but we have found that pairing a strong Zacks Rank with an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system produces the best returns. The Zacks Rank favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.

Right now, AllianceBernstein is sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while SEI Investments has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that AB is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. But this is just one piece of the puzzle 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.

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.

AB currently has a forward P/E ratio of 12.28, while SEIC has a forward P/E of 16.73. We also note that AB has a PEG ratio of 0.93. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. SEIC currently has a PEG ratio of 1.39.

Another notable valuation metric for AB is its P/B ratio of 2.51. 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, SEIC has a P/B of 5.11.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to AB's Value grade of B and SEIC's Value grade of C.

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


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AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (AB) - free report >>

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