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CATM vs. FISV: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

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Investors interested in Financial Transaction Services stocks are likely familiar with Cardtronics and Fiserv . But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? Let's 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.

Cardtronics and Fiserv are sporting Zacks Ranks of #1 (Strong Buy) and #3 (Hold), respectively, right now. This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that CATM 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.

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.

CATM currently has a forward P/E ratio of 23.74, while FISV has a forward P/E of 25.55. We also note that CATM has a PEG ratio of 1.98. 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. FISV currently has a PEG ratio of 2.22.

Another notable valuation metric for CATM is its P/B ratio of 4.41. 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, FISV has a P/B of 11.37.

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

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