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ALL or PGR: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors interested in Insurance - Property and Casualty stocks are likely familiar with Allstate (ALL - Free Report) and Progressive (PGR - 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.

Everyone has their own methods for finding great value opportunities, but our model includes pairing an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system with a strong Zacks Rank. The proven Zacks Rank emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.

Right now, both Allstate and Progressive are sporting a Zacks Rank of # 2 (Buy). Investors should feel comfortable knowing that both of these stocks have an improving earnings outlook since the Zacks Rank favors companies that have witnessed positive analyst estimate revisions. But this is only part of the picture for value investors.

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.

ALL currently has a forward P/E ratio of 10.11, while PGR has a forward P/E of 14.38. We also note that ALL has a PEG ratio of 1.21. 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. PGR currently has a PEG ratio of 1.96.

Another notable valuation metric for ALL is its P/B ratio of 1.67. The P/B ratio is used to compare a stock's market value with its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. For comparison, PGR has a P/B of 4.11.

Based on these metrics and many more, ALL holds a Value grade of B, while PGR has a Value grade of C.

Both ALL and PGR are impressive stocks with solid earnings outlooks, but based on these valuation figures, we feel that ALL is the superior value option right now.


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