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CVCY or CVBF: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors interested in stocks from the Banks - West sector have probably already heard of Central Valley Community Bancorp and CVB Financial (CVBF - 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.

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.

Central Valley Community Bancorp and CVB Financial are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (Buy) and #3 (Hold), respectively, right now. Investors should feel comfortable knowing that CVCY likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than CVBF has recently. 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 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.

CVCY currently has a forward P/E ratio of 14.88, while CVBF has a forward P/E of 18.51. We also note that CVCY has a PEG ratio of 1.86. 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. CVBF currently has a PEG ratio of 1.95.

Another notable valuation metric for CVCY is its P/B ratio of 1.44. 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, CVBF has a P/B of 2.43.

These metrics, and several others, help CVCY earn a Value grade of B, while CVBF has been given a Value grade of C.

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


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