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BAX vs. BSX: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

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Investors with an interest in Medical - Products stocks have likely encountered both Baxter International (BAX - Free Report) and Boston Scientific (BSX - 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.

We have found that the best way to discover great value opportunities is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with a great grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system. The proven Zacks Rank puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

Baxter International has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Boston Scientific has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now. The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that BAX has an improving earnings outlook. However, value investors will care about much more than just this.

Value investors are also interested in a number of tried-and-true valuation metrics that help show when 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.

BAX currently has a forward P/E ratio of 23.62, while BSX has a forward P/E of 26.95. We also note that BAX has a PEG ratio of 1.90. This popular figure is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also considers a company's expected EPS growth rate. BSX currently has a PEG ratio of 2.60.

Another notable valuation metric for BAX is its P/B ratio of 4.25. 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, BSX has a P/B of 6.70.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to BAX's Value grade of B and BSX's Value grade of C.

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


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