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TGLS or FAST: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors interested in stocks from the Building Products - Retail sector have probably already heard of Tecnoglass (TGLS - Free Report) and Fastenal (FAST - 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.

We have found that the best way to discover great value opportunities is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with a great 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.

Right now, Tecnoglass is sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Fastenal has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). This means that TGLS's earnings estimate revision activity has been more impressive, so investors should feel comfortable with its improving analyst outlook. However, value investors will care about much more than just this.

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.

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.

TGLS currently has a forward P/E ratio of 7.84, while FAST has a forward P/E of 32.16. We also note that TGLS has a PEG ratio of 0.39. 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. FAST currently has a PEG ratio of 3.57.

Another notable valuation metric for TGLS is its P/B ratio of 1.61. The P/B ratio is used to compare a stock's market value with its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. For comparison, FAST has a P/B of 9.40.

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

TGLS has seen stronger estimate revision activity and sports more attractive valuation metrics than FAST, so it seems like value investors will conclude that TGLS is the superior option right now.


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