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

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Investors looking for stocks in the Building Products - Miscellaneous sector might want to consider either Owens Corning (OC - 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.

Everyone has their own methods for finding great value opportunities, but our model includes pairing an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system with a strong Zacks Rank. The proven Zacks Rank emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.

Owens Corning and Armstrong World Industries are sporting Zacks Ranks of #1 (Strong Buy) and #5 (Strong Sell), respectively, right now. This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that OC is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. But this is only part of the picture for value investors.

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 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.

OC currently has a forward P/E ratio of 18.40, while AWI has a forward P/E of 19.89. We also note that OC has a PEG ratio of 4.36. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. AWI currently has a PEG ratio of 9.99.

Another notable valuation metric for OC is its P/B ratio of 1.78. The P/B is a method of comparing a stock's market value to its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. By comparison, AWI has a P/B of 8.46.

These metrics, and several others, help OC earn a Value grade of B, while AWI has been given a Value grade of C.

OC has seen stronger estimate revision activity and sports more attractive valuation metrics than AWI, so it seems like value investors will conclude that OC is the superior option right now.


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