OC or WMS: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

WMS OC

Investors with an interest in Building Products - Miscellaneous stocks have likely encountered both Owens Corning (OC - Free Report) and Advanced Drainage Systems (WMS - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks offers value investors a better bang for their buck right now? We'll need to 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 favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.

Owens Corning has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Advanced Drainage Systems has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell) right now. The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that OC has an improving earnings outlook. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

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.

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.

OC currently has a forward P/E ratio of 10.51, while WMS has a forward P/E of 23.74. We also note that OC has a PEG ratio of 1.03. 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. WMS currently has a PEG ratio of 2.09.

Another notable valuation metric for OC is its P/B ratio of 2.53. 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, WMS has a P/B of 9.91.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to OC's Value grade of A and WMS's Value grade of D.

OC 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 OC is likely the superior value option right now.

Just Released: Zacks Top 10 Stocks for 2024

Hurry – you can still get in early on our 10 top tickers for 2024. Hand-picked by Zacks Director of Research, Sheraz Mian, this portfolio has been stunningly and consistently successful. From inception in 2012 through November, 2023, the Zacks Top 10 Stocks gained +974.1%, nearly TRIPLING the S&P 500’s +340.1%. Sheraz has combed through 4,400 companies covered by the Zacks Rank and handpicked the best 10 to buy and hold in 2024. You can still be among the first to see these just-released stocks with enormous potential.

See New Top 10 Stocks >>