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DVA vs. CHE: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

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Investors looking for stocks in the Medical - Outpatient and Home Healthcare sector might want to consider either DaVita HealthCare (DVA - Free Report) or Chemed (CHE - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks offers value investors a better bang for their buck right now? We'll need to take a closer look.

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 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.

DaVita HealthCare and Chemed 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 only part of the picture for value investors.

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.

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.

DVA currently has a forward P/E ratio of 13.08, while CHE has a forward P/E of 27.92. We also note that DVA has a PEG ratio of 0.72. This popular figure is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also considers a company's expected EPS growth rate. CHE currently has a PEG ratio of 2.90.

Another notable valuation metric for DVA is its P/B ratio of 6.27. 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, CHE has a P/B of 10.05.

Based on these metrics and many more, DVA holds a Value grade of A, while CHE has a Value grade of D.

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


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