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URI or GCP: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors looking for stocks in the Building Products - Miscellaneous sector might want to consider either United Rentals (URI - Free Report) or GCP Applied Technologies . 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 proven Zacks Rank puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

Currently, both United Rentals and GCP Applied Technologies are holding a Zacks Rank of # 2 (Buy). Investors should feel comfortable knowing that both of these stocks have an improving earnings outlook since the Zacks Rank favors companies that have witnessed positive analyst estimate revisions. 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 Style Score Value grade factors in a variety of key fundamental metrics, including the popular P/E ratio, P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a number of other key stats that are commonly used by value investors.

URI currently has a forward P/E ratio of 9.75, while GCP has a forward P/E of 27.93. We also note that URI has a PEG ratio of 0.55. 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. GCP currently has a PEG ratio of 1.55.

Another notable valuation metric for URI is its P/B ratio of 3.95. 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, GCP has a P/B of 4.19.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to URI's Value grade of A and GCP's Value grade of D.

Both URI and GCP are impressive stocks with solid earnings outlooks, but based on these valuation figures, we feel that URI is the superior value option right now.


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