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TAST vs. SHAK: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

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Investors interested in Retail - Restaurants stocks are likely familiar with Carrols Restaurant Group (TAST - Free Report) and Shake Shack (SHAK - 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.

The best way to find great value stocks is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with an impressive 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.

Carrols Restaurant Group has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Shake Shack has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now. This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that TAST is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. However, value investors will care about much more than just this.

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 highlights undervalued companies by looking at a variety of key metrics, including the popular P/E ratio, as well as the P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a variety of other fundamentals that have been used by value investors for years.

TAST currently has a forward P/E ratio of 43.50, while SHAK has a forward P/E of 92.97. We also note that TAST has a PEG ratio of 2.17. 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. SHAK currently has a PEG ratio of 4.13.

Another notable valuation metric for TAST is its P/B ratio of 3.39. The P/B is a method of comparing a stock's market value to its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. By comparison, SHAK has a P/B of 8.17.

Based on these metrics and many more, TAST holds a Value grade of A, while SHAK has a Value grade of D.

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


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Carrols Restaurant Group, Inc. (TAST) - free report >>

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