ARKAY or AVNT: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

ARKAY AVNT

Investors with an interest in Chemical - Diversified stocks have likely encountered both Arkema SA (ARKAY - Free Report) and Avient (AVNT - 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 proven Zacks Rank puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

Right now, both Arkema SA and Avient are sporting 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 both of these companies have improving earnings outlooks. However, value investors will care about much more than just this.

Value investors analyze a variety of traditional, tried-and-true metrics to help find companies that they believe are undervalued at their 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.

ARKAY currently has a forward P/E ratio of 15.48, while AVNT has a forward P/E of 18.33. We also note that ARKAY has a PEG ratio of 0.64. 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. AVNT currently has a PEG ratio of 1.59.

Another notable valuation metric for ARKAY is its P/B ratio of 1.51. 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, AVNT has a P/B of 2.69.

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

Both ARKAY and AVNT are impressive stocks with solid earnings outlooks, but based on these valuation figures, we feel that ARKAY is the superior value option right now.

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