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GFN vs. PRGX: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

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Investors interested in Business - Services stocks are likely familiar with General Finance and PRGX Global . But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? 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 Zacks Rank favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.

General Finance has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while PRGX Global has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now. The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that GFN has an improving earnings outlook. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

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 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.

GFN currently has a forward P/E ratio of 24.38, while PRGX has a forward P/E of 38. We also note that GFN has a PEG ratio of 2.03. 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. PRGX currently has a PEG ratio of 2.53.

Another notable valuation metric for GFN is its P/B ratio of 1.61. 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, PRGX has a P/B of 2.20.

These metrics, and several others, help GFN earn a Value grade of B, while PRGX has been given a Value grade of C.

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

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