Back to top

Image: Bigstock

SPB or UNICY: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

Read MoreHide Full Article

Investors with an interest in Consumer Products - Discretionary stocks have likely encountered both Spectrum Brands (SPB - Free Report) and UNICHARM CORP (UNICY - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? Let's take a closer look.

The best way to find great value stocks is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system. The proven Zacks Rank emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.

Spectrum Brands and UNICHARM CORP are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (Buy) and #3 (Hold), respectively, right now. This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that SPB is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

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.

SPB currently has a forward P/E ratio of 12.53, while UNICY has a forward P/E of 33.03. We also note that SPB has a PEG ratio of 2.19. 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. UNICY currently has a PEG ratio of 3.67.

Another notable valuation metric for SPB is its P/B ratio of 1.26. 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, UNICY has a P/B of 4.14.

Based on these metrics and many more, SPB holds a Value grade of A, while UNICY has a Value grade of D.

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


See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:


Spectrum Brands Holdings Inc. (SPB) - free report >>

Unicharm (UNICY) - free report >>

Published in