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APELY or MRCY: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors looking for stocks in the Computer - Peripheral Equipment sector might want to consider either Alps Electric (APELY - Free Report) or Mercury Systems (MRCY - 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 favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.

Alps Electric and Mercury Systems are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (Buy) and #4 (Sell), respectively, right now. This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that APELY is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. However, value investors will care about much more than just this.

Value investors also tend to look at a number of traditional, tried-and-true figures to help them find stocks 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.

APELY currently has a forward P/E ratio of 10.44, while MRCY has a forward P/E of 24.57. We also note that APELY has a PEG ratio of 2.90. 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. MRCY currently has a PEG ratio of 14.37.

Another notable valuation metric for APELY is its P/B ratio of 0.53. 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, MRCY has a P/B of 1.33.

These metrics, and several others, help APELY earn a Value grade of B, while MRCY has been given a Value grade of D.

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


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