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CECE vs. CWST: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

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Investors interested in Pollution Control stocks are likely familiar with CECO Environmental and Casella (CWST - 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 Zacks Rank favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.

Right now, CECO Environmental is sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Casella 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 CECE is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. 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.

CECE currently has a forward P/E ratio of 11.48, while CWST has a forward P/E of 70.66. We also note that CECE has a PEG ratio of 0.77. 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. CWST currently has a PEG ratio of 4.99.

Another notable valuation metric for CECE is its P/B ratio of 1.02. Investors use the P/B ratio to look at a stock's market value versus its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. By comparison, CWST has a P/B of 8.64.

Based on these metrics and many more, CECE holds a Value grade of A, while CWST has a Value grade of D.

CECE is currently sporting an improving earnings outlook, which makes it stick out in our Zacks Rank model. And, based on the above valuation metrics, we feel that CECE is likely the superior value option right now.


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