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AXP or MCO: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors looking for stocks in the Financial - Miscellaneous Services sector might want to consider either American Express (AXP - Free Report) or Moody's (MCO - 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.

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

American Express and Moody's are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (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 AXP 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 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.

The Value category of the Style Scores system identifies undervalued companies by looking at a number of key metrics. These include the long-favored P/E ratio, P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a variety of other fundamentals that help us determine a company's fair value.

AXP currently has a forward P/E ratio of 16.63, while MCO has a forward P/E of 35.97. We also note that AXP has a PEG ratio of 1.16. 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. MCO currently has a PEG ratio of 2.76.

Another notable valuation metric for AXP is its P/B ratio of 5.49. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. For comparison, MCO has a P/B of 22.12.

These metrics, and several others, help AXP earn a Value grade of B, while MCO has been given a Value grade of F.

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


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