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CATM or FISV: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors with an interest in Financial Transaction Services stocks have likely encountered both Cardtronics and Fiserv . 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.

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 proven Zacks Rank emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.

Cardtronics has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), while Fiserv has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now. Investors should feel comfortable knowing that CATM likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than FISV has recently. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

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.

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 13.20, while FISV has a forward P/E of 23.17. We also note that CATM has a PEG ratio of 1.10. 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 2.02.

Another notable valuation metric for CATM is its P/B ratio of 3.03. 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, FISV has a P/B of 10.86.

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

CATM stands above FISV thanks to its solid earnings outlook, and based on these valuation figures, we also feel that CATM is the superior value option right now.

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