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SASR or FCCY: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors interested in Banks - Northeast stocks are likely familiar with Sandy Spring Bancorp (SASR - Free Report) and 1st Constitution Bancorp . But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? Let's 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 Zacks Rank is a proven strategy that targets companies with positive earnings estimate revision trends, while our Style Scores work to grade companies based on specific traits.

Sandy Spring Bancorp has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while 1st Constitution Bancorp has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell) right now. Investors should feel comfortable knowing that SASR likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than FCCY has recently. 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.

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.

SASR currently has a forward P/E ratio of 10.31, while FCCY has a forward P/E of 12. We also note that SASR has a PEG ratio of 1.41. 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. FCCY currently has a PEG ratio of 1.50.

Another notable valuation metric for SASR is its P/B ratio of 1.06. 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, FCCY has a P/B of 1.22.

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

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


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