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PPC or HRL: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors interested in stocks from the Food - Meat Products sector have probably already heard of Pilgrim's Pride (PPC - Free Report) and Hormel Foods (HRL - Free Report) . But which of these two companies is the best option for those looking for undervalued stocks? 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 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.

Pilgrim's Pride and Hormel Foods are both sporting a Zacks Rank of # 2 (Buy) right now. This means that both companies have witnessed positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that both of these stocks have an improving earnings outlook. But this is just one piece of the puzzle for value investors.

Value investors are also interested in a number of tried-and-true valuation metrics that help show when 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.

PPC currently has a forward P/E ratio of 21.72, while HRL has a forward P/E of 28.94. We also note that PPC has a PEG ratio of 3.24. 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. HRL currently has a PEG ratio of 3.86.

Another notable valuation metric for PPC is its P/B ratio of 1.62. The P/B is a method of comparing a stock's market value to its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. By comparison, HRL has a P/B of 4.18.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to PPC's Value grade of A and HRL's Value grade of D.

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


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