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KAR vs. DKS: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

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Investors with an interest in Retail - Miscellaneous stocks have likely encountered both KAR Auction Services (KAR - Free Report) and Dick's Sporting Goods (DKS - 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.

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 Zacks Rank favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.

Right now, KAR Auction Services is sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Dick's Sporting Goods has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). Investors should feel comfortable knowing that KAR likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than DKS has recently. But this is only part of the picture for value investors.

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.

KAR currently has a forward P/E ratio of 26.56, while DKS has a forward P/E of 84.08. We also note that KAR has a PEG ratio of 4.30. 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. DKS currently has a PEG ratio of 20.63.

Another notable valuation metric for KAR is its P/B ratio of 1.53. 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, DKS has a P/B of 2.38.

These metrics, and several others, help KAR earn a Value grade of A, while DKS has been given a Value grade of C.

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


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