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FHI or SEIC: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors looking for stocks in the Financial - Investment Management sector might want to consider either Federated Hermes (FHI - Free Report) or SEI Investments (SEIC - 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.

We have found that the best way to discover great value opportunities is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with a great 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.

Federated Hermes and SEI Investments are sporting Zacks Ranks of #1 (Strong Buy) and #2 (Buy), respectively, right now. The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that FHI has an improving earnings outlook. 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.

Our Value category grades stocks based on a number of key metrics, including the tried-and-true P/E ratio, the P/S ratio, earnings yield, and cash flow per share, as well as a variety of other fundamentals that value investors frequently use.

FHI currently has a forward P/E ratio of 9.87, while SEIC has a forward P/E of 17.17. We also note that FHI has a PEG ratio of 0.81. 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. SEIC currently has a PEG ratio of 1.43.

Another notable valuation metric for FHI is its P/B ratio of 2.70. 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, SEIC has a P/B of 4.19.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to FHI's Value grade of B and SEIC's Value grade of C.

FHI has seen stronger estimate revision activity and sports more attractive valuation metrics than SEIC, so it seems like value investors will conclude that FHI is the superior option right now.


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