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SXI vs. IR: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

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Investors looking for stocks in the Manufacturing - General Industrial sector might want to consider either Standex International (SXI - Free Report) or Ingersoll Rand (IR - 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 is a proven strategy that targets companies with positive earnings estimate revision trends, while our Style Scores work to grade companies based on specific traits.

Standex International and Ingersoll Rand are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (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 SXI is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. 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.

SXI currently has a forward P/E ratio of 15.94, while IR has a forward P/E of 28.83. We also note that SXI has a PEG ratio of 1.14. 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. IR currently has a PEG ratio of 3.63.

Another notable valuation metric for SXI 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, IR has a P/B of 1.75.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to SXI's Value grade of B and IR's Value grade of F.

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


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