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CI or HUM: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors looking for stocks in the Medical - HMOs sector might want to consider either Cigna (CI - Free Report) or Humana (HUM - 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.

There are plenty of strategies for discovering value stocks, but we have found that pairing a strong Zacks Rank with an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system produces the best returns. The Zacks Rank favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.

Cigna and Humana are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (Buy) and #5 (Strong Sell), respectively, right now. This means that CI's earnings estimate revision activity has been more impressive, so investors should feel comfortable with its improving analyst outlook. But this is just one piece of the puzzle 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 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.

CI currently has a forward P/E ratio of 12.42, while HUM has a forward P/E of 21.69. We also note that CI has a PEG ratio of 1.08. 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. HUM currently has a PEG ratio of 2.04.

Another notable valuation metric for CI is its P/B ratio of 2.23. 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, HUM has a P/B of 2.63.

Based on these metrics and many more, CI holds a Value grade of A, while HUM has a Value grade of C.

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


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