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TT or AQUA: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors looking for stocks in the Technology Services sector might want to consider either Trane Technologies (TT - Free Report) or Evoqua Water . But which of these two stocks is more attractive to value investors? We'll need to take a closer look to find out.

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 is a proven strategy that targets companies with positive earnings estimate revision trends, while our Style Scores work to grade companies based on specific traits.

Trane Technologies has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Evoqua Water has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now. This means that TT'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 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.

TT currently has a forward P/E ratio of 25.03, while AQUA has a forward P/E of 47.13. We also note that TT has a PEG ratio of 2.13. 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. AQUA currently has a PEG ratio of 3.14.

Another notable valuation metric for TT is its P/B ratio of 7.04. 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, AQUA has a P/B of 7.55.

Based on these metrics and many more, TT holds a Value grade of B, while AQUA has a Value grade of C.

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


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