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IGT vs. GDEN: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

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Investors with an interest in Gaming stocks have likely encountered both International Game Technology (IGT - Free Report) and Golden Entertainment (GDEN - 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 Zacks Rank favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.

Right now, International Game Technology is sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Golden Entertainment has a Zacks Rank of #5 (Strong Sell). The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that IGT has an improving earnings outlook. However, value investors will care about much more than just this.

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.

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.

IGT currently has a forward P/E ratio of 13.10, while GDEN has a forward P/E of 1,419. We also note that IGT has a PEG ratio of 1.31. 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. GDEN currently has a PEG ratio of 141.90.

Another notable valuation metric for IGT is its P/B ratio of 1.17. 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, GDEN has a P/B of 1.78.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to IGT's Value grade of A and GDEN's Value grade of C.

IGT is currently sporting an improving earnings outlook, which makes it stick out in our Zacks Rank model. And, based on the above valuation metrics, we feel that IGT is likely the superior value option right now.


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