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SNY or NVO: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors with an interest in Large Cap Pharmaceuticals stocks have likely encountered both Sanofi (SNY - Free Report) and Novo Nordisk (NVO - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks is more attractive to value investors? We'll need to take a closer look to find out.

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 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.

Sanofi and Novo Nordisk are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (Buy) and #3 (Hold), respectively, right now. The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that SNY has an improving earnings outlook. But this is only part of the picture for value investors.

Value investors also tend to look at a number of traditional, tried-and-true figures to help them find stocks that they believe are undervalued at their current share price levels.

Our Value category grades stocks based on a number of key metrics, including the tried-and-true P/E ratio, the P/S ratio, earnings yield, and cash flow per share, as well as a variety of other fundamentals that value investors frequently use.

SNY currently has a forward P/E ratio of 14.41, while NVO has a forward P/E of 26.11. We also note that SNY has a PEG ratio of 1.86. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. NVO currently has a PEG ratio of 2.75.

Another notable valuation metric for SNY is its P/B ratio of 1.80. 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, NVO has a P/B of 18.85.

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

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


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