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ICL or LTHM: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors looking for stocks in the Chemical - Specialty sector might want to consider either Israel Chemicals (ICL - Free Report) or Livent . 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 Zacks Rank favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.

Israel Chemicals has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Livent has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell) right now. The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that ICL has an improving earnings outlook. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

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.

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.

ICL currently has a forward P/E ratio of 12.49, while LTHM has a forward P/E of 13.23. We also note that ICL has a PEG ratio of 1.31. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. LTHM currently has a PEG ratio of 3.59.

Another notable valuation metric for ICL is its P/B ratio of 1.70. Investors use the P/B ratio to look at a stock's market value versus its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. By comparison, LTHM has a P/B of 3.71.

Based on these metrics and many more, ICL holds a Value grade of A, while LTHM has a Value grade of C.

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


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