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CFG or FFIC: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors interested in Financial - Savings and Loan stocks are likely familiar with Citizens Financial Group (CFG - Free Report) and Flushing Financial (FFIC - 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.

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.

Right now, Citizens Financial Group is sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Flushing Financial has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that CFG has an improving earnings outlook. But this is only part of the picture for value investors.

Value investors also tend to look at a number of traditional, tried-and-true figures to help them find stocks 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.

CFG currently has a forward P/E ratio of 9.15, while FFIC has a forward P/E of 12.79. We also note that CFG has a PEG ratio of 0.59. 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. FFIC currently has a PEG ratio of 1.94.

Another notable valuation metric for CFG is its P/B ratio of 0.83. 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, FFIC has a P/B of 1.19.

These metrics, and several others, help CFG earn a Value grade of B, while FFIC has been given a Value grade of C.

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


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Flushing Financial Corporation (FFIC) - free report >>

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