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NVST vs. BSX: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

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Investors looking for stocks in the Medical - Products sector might want to consider either Envista (NVST - Free Report) or Boston Scientific (BSX - Free Report) . 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 puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

Currently, Envista has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Boston Scientific has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). This means that NVST's earnings estimate revision activity has been more impressive, so investors should feel comfortable with its improving analyst outlook. However, value investors will care about much more than just this.

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.

NVST currently has a forward P/E ratio of 22.07, while BSX has a forward P/E of 28.29. We also note that NVST has a PEG ratio of 0.81. 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. BSX currently has a PEG ratio of 3.

Another notable valuation metric for NVST is its P/B ratio of 1.80. The P/B ratio is used to compare a stock's market value with its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. For comparison, BSX has a P/B of 4.06.

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

NVST stands above BSX thanks to its solid earnings outlook, and based on these valuation figures, we also feel that NVST is the superior value option right now.


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