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DVA vs. CHE: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

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Investors looking for stocks in the Medical - Outpatient and Home Healthcare sector might want to consider either DaVita HealthCare (DVA - Free Report) or Chemed (CHE - Free Report) . But which of these two companies is the best option for those looking for undervalued stocks? Let's take a closer look.

Everyone has their own methods for finding great value opportunities, but our model includes pairing an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system with a strong Zacks Rank. The proven Zacks Rank emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.

DaVita HealthCare and Chemed are sporting Zacks Ranks of #1 (Strong Buy) and #3 (Hold), respectively, right now. This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that DVA is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. But this is only part of the picture for value investors.

Value investors also try to analyze a wide range of traditional figures and metrics to help determine whether 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.

DVA currently has a forward P/E ratio of 12.33, while CHE has a forward P/E of 28.57. We also note that DVA has a PEG ratio of 0.68. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. CHE currently has a PEG ratio of 3.21.

Another notable valuation metric for DVA is its P/B ratio of 6.59. 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, CHE has a P/B of 8.59.

These metrics, and several others, help DVA earn a Value grade of A, while CHE has been given a Value grade of D.

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


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