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FMBH vs. CBU: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

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Investors interested in Banks - Northeast stocks are likely familiar with First Mid-Illinois Bancshares (FMBH - Free Report) and Community Bank System (CBU - 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 is a proven strategy that targets companies with positive earnings estimate revision trends, while our Style Scores work to grade companies based on specific traits.

Currently, First Mid-Illinois Bancshares has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Community Bank System has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that FMBH is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

Value investors analyze a variety of traditional, tried-and-true metrics to help find companies that they believe are undervalued at their 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.

FMBH currently has a forward P/E ratio of 14.64, while CBU has a forward P/E of 19.72. We also note that FMBH has a PEG ratio of 1.63. 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. CBU currently has a PEG ratio of 2.46.

Another notable valuation metric for FMBH is its P/B ratio of 1.41. 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, CBU has a P/B of 1.95.

These metrics, and several others, help FMBH earn a Value grade of B, while CBU has been given a Value grade of D.

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


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Community Bank System, Inc. (CBU) - free report >>

First Mid Bancshares, Inc. (FMBH) - free report >>