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ATCO or VRTS: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors interested in stocks from the Financial - Investment Management sector have probably already heard of Atlas and Virtus Investment Partners (VRTS - 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.

There are plenty of strategies for discovering value stocks, but we have found that pairing a strong Zacks Rank with an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system produces the best returns. 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.

Atlas and Virtus Investment Partners are both sporting a Zacks Rank of # 2 (Buy) right now. This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that these stocks have improving earnings outlooks. But this is only part of the picture for value investors.

Value investors analyze a variety of traditional, tried-and-true metrics to help find companies that they believe are undervalued at their current share price levels.

The Style Score Value grade factors in a variety of key fundamental metrics, including the popular P/E ratio, P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a number of other key stats that are commonly used by value investors.

ATCO currently has a forward P/E ratio of 8.68, while VRTS has a forward P/E of 10.36. We also note that ATCO has a PEG ratio of 0.48. 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. VRTS currently has a PEG ratio of 0.49.

Another notable valuation metric for ATCO is its P/B ratio of 0.57. 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, VRTS has a P/B of 1.90.

These metrics, and several others, help ATCO earn a Value grade of A, while VRTS has been given a Value grade of F.

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


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