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BBSI or PAYX: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors looking for stocks in the Outsourcing sector might want to consider either Barrett Business Services (BBSI - Free Report) or Paychex (PAYX - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? Let's 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.

Barrett Business Services and Paychex are sporting Zacks Ranks of #1 (Strong Buy) and #2 (Buy), respectively, right now. The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that BBSI has an improving earnings 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 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.

BBSI currently has a forward P/E ratio of 15.03, while PAYX has a forward P/E of 29.18. We also note that BBSI has a PEG ratio of 1.07. 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. PAYX currently has a PEG ratio of 3.89.

Another notable valuation metric for BBSI is its P/B ratio of 4. The P/B is a method of comparing a stock's market value to its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. By comparison, PAYX has a P/B of 14.10.

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

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


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Paychex, Inc. (PAYX) - free report >>

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