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BMY vs. AZN: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

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Investors with an interest in Large Cap Pharmaceuticals stocks have likely encountered both Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY - Free Report) and Astrazeneca (AZN - 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.

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

Currently, Bristol-Myers Squibb has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Astrazeneca 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 BMY is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. 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.

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.

BMY currently has a forward P/E ratio of 12.25, while AZN has a forward P/E of 21.52. We also note that BMY has a PEG ratio of 1.62. 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. AZN currently has a PEG ratio of 1.94.

Another notable valuation metric for BMY is its P/B ratio of 6.05. 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, AZN has a P/B of 6.84.

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

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


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AstraZeneca PLC (AZN) - free report >>

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