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CECE or SMED: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors looking for stocks in the Pollution Control sector might want to consider either CECO Environmental or Sharps Compliance . But which of these two companies is the best option for those looking for undervalued stocks? Let's take a closer look.

The best way to find great value stocks is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system. The proven Zacks Rank puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

Currently, CECO Environmental has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Sharps Compliance has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell). This means that CECE's earnings estimate revision activity has been more impressive, so investors should feel comfortable with its improving analyst outlook. But this is just one piece of the puzzle 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.

CECE currently has a forward P/E ratio of 15.96, while SMED has a forward P/E of 66.87. We also note that CECE has a PEG ratio of 1.06. 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. SMED currently has a PEG ratio of 2.91.

Another notable valuation metric for CECE is its P/B ratio of 1.58. 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, SMED has a P/B of 5.06.

These metrics, and several others, help CECE earn a Value grade of B, while SMED has been given a Value grade of D.

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

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