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BAYRY or LLY: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors interested in stocks from the Large Cap Pharmaceuticals sector have probably already heard of Bayer Aktiengesellschaft (BAYRY - Free Report) and Eli Lilly (LLY - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks is more attractive to value investors? We'll need to take a closer look to find out.

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 favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.

Right now, Bayer Aktiengesellschaft is sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Eli Lilly has a Zacks Rank of #5 (Strong Sell). Investors should feel comfortable knowing that BAYRY likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than LLY has recently. However, value investors will care about much more than just this.

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.

The Style Score Value grade factors in a variety of key fundamental metrics, including the popular P/E ratio, P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a number of other key stats that are commonly used by value investors.

BAYRY currently has a forward P/E ratio of 7.61, while LLY has a forward P/E of 42.72. We also note that BAYRY has a PEG ratio of 1.50. This figure is similar to the commonly-used P/E ratio, with the PEG ratio also factoring in a company's expected earnings growth rate. LLY currently has a PEG ratio of 2.16.

Another notable valuation metric for BAYRY is its P/B ratio of 1.47. 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, LLY has a P/B of 33.80.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to BAYRY's Value grade of A and LLY's Value grade of F.

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


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