Investors with an interest in Financial - Investment Management stocks have likely encountered both Franklin Resources (BEN Quick QuoteBEN - Free Report) and Eaton Vance (EV Quick QuoteEV - 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.

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 proven Zacks Rank emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.

Currently, both Franklin Resources and Eaton Vance are holding a Zacks Rank of # 2 (Buy). The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that both of these companies have improving earnings outlooks. 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.

BEN currently has a forward P/E ratio of 8.17, while EV has a forward P/E of 18.41. We also note that BEN has a PEG ratio of 0.53. 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. EV currently has a PEG ratio of 3.28.

Another notable valuation metric for BEN is its P/B ratio of 1.04. 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, EV has a P/B of 5.50.

Based on these metrics and many more, BEN holds a Value grade of B, while EV has a Value grade of D.

Both BEN and EV are impressive stocks with solid earnings outlooks, but based on these valuation figures, we feel that BEN is the superior value option right now.