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EBKDY vs. HDB: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

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Investors interested in stocks from the Banks - Foreign sector have probably already heard of Erste Group Bank AG (EBKDY - Free Report) and HDFC Bank (HDB - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? Let's 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.

Erste Group Bank AG has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while HDFC Bank has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now. This means that EBKDY's earnings estimate revision activity has been more impressive, so investors should feel comfortable with its improving analyst outlook. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

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.

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.

EBKDY currently has a forward P/E ratio of 9.80, while HDB has a forward P/E of 26.70. We also note that EBKDY has a PEG ratio of 0.43. 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. HDB currently has a PEG ratio of 1.23.

Another notable valuation metric for EBKDY is its P/B ratio of 0.65. 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, HDB has a P/B of 4.47.

These metrics, and several others, help EBKDY earn a Value grade of B, while HDB has been given a Value grade of D.

EBKDY sticks out from HDB in both our Zacks Rank and Style Scores models, so value investors will likely feel that EBKDY is the better option right now.


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