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

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Investors looking for stocks in the Consumer Products - Discretionary sector might want to consider either Prestige Brands (PBH - Free Report) or 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.

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 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.

Currently, Prestige Brands has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), while UNICHARM CORP has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy). The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that PBH has an improving earnings outlook. However, value investors will care about much more than just this.

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.

The Value category of the Style Scores system identifies undervalued companies by looking at a number of key metrics. These include the long-favored P/E ratio, P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a variety of other fundamentals that help us determine a company's fair value.

PBH currently has a forward P/E ratio of 13.92, while UNICY has a forward P/E of 37.10. We also note that PBH has a PEG ratio of 3.48. 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 4.12.

Another notable valuation metric for PBH is its P/B ratio of 1.79. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. For comparison, UNICY has a P/B of 4.77.

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

PBH stands above UNICY thanks to its solid earnings outlook, and based on these valuation figures, we also feel that PBH is the superior value option right now.


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