URI vs. AWI: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

AWI URI

Investors looking for stocks in the Building Products - Miscellaneous sector might want to consider either United Rentals (URI - Free Report) or Armstrong World Industries (AWI - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? Let's take a closer look.

We have found that the best way to discover great value opportunities is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with a great 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.

Currently, United Rentals has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Armstrong World Industries has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). Investors should feel comfortable knowing that URI likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than AWI has recently. But this is just one piece of the puzzle for value investors.

Value investors also try to analyze a wide range of traditional figures and metrics to help determine whether a company is undervalued at its current share price levels.

The Style Score Value grade factors in a variety of key fundamental metrics, including the popular P/E ratio, P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a number of other key stats that are commonly used by value investors.

URI currently has a forward P/E ratio of 6.65, while AWI has a forward P/E of 21.53. We also note that URI has a PEG ratio of 0.37. 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. AWI currently has a PEG ratio of 1.13.

Another notable valuation metric for URI is its P/B ratio of 3.04. 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, AWI has a P/B of 17.11.

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

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

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