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BAESY or HEI: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors looking for stocks in the Aerospace - Defense Equipment sector might want to consider either Bae Systems PLC (BAESY - Free Report) or Heico Corporation (HEI - 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.

The best way to find great value stocks is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system. 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.

Right now, Bae Systems PLC is sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), while Heico Corporation has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that BAESY has an improving earnings outlook. But this is just one piece of the puzzle for value investors.

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 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.

BAESY currently has a forward P/E ratio of 14.37, while HEI has a forward P/E of 53.51. We also note that BAESY has a PEG ratio of 1.09. 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. HEI currently has a PEG ratio of 4.25.

Another notable valuation metric for BAESY is its P/B ratio of 3.12. 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, HEI has a P/B of 8.14.

Based on these metrics and many more, BAESY holds a Value grade of B, while HEI has a Value grade of D.

BAESY 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 BAESY is likely the superior value option right now.


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