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TROX vs. FMC: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

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Investors with an interest in Chemical - Diversified stocks have likely encountered both Tronox (TROX - Free Report) and FMC (FMC - 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.

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 proven Zacks Rank emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.

Tronox and FMC are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (Buy) and #3 (Hold), respectively, right now. This means that TROX'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 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.

Our Value category grades stocks based on a number of key metrics, including the tried-and-true P/E ratio, the P/S ratio, earnings yield, and cash flow per share, as well as a variety of other fundamentals that value investors frequently use.

TROX currently has a forward P/E ratio of 6.05, while FMC has a forward P/E of 17.89. We also note that TROX has a PEG ratio of 0.74. 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. FMC currently has a PEG ratio of 1.63.

Another notable valuation metric for TROX is its P/B ratio of 1.40. 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, FMC has a P/B of 5.70.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to TROX's Value grade of A and FMC's Value grade of C.

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


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