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SNY vs. NVO: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

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Investors interested in Large Cap Pharmaceuticals stocks are likely familiar with Sanofi (SNY - Free Report) and Novo Nordisk (NVO - 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.

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

Currently, Sanofi has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Novo Nordisk has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that SNY 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 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.

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.

SNY currently has a forward P/E ratio of 15, while NVO has a forward P/E of 25.84. We also note that SNY has a PEG ratio of 1.93. This figure is similar to the commonly-used P/E ratio, with the PEG ratio also factoring in a company's expected earnings growth rate. NVO currently has a PEG ratio of 2.74.

Another notable valuation metric for SNY is its P/B ratio of 1.87. 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, NVO has a P/B of 18.47.

Based on these metrics and many more, SNY holds a Value grade of B, while NVO has a Value grade of C.

SNY stands above NVO thanks to its solid earnings outlook, and based on these valuation figures, we also feel that SNY is the superior value option right now.


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