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CRAI or ACN: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors interested in stocks from the Consulting Services sector have probably already heard of CRA International (CRAI - Free Report) and Accenture (ACN - Free Report) . But which of these two companies is the best option for those looking for undervalued stocks? Let's 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 proven Zacks Rank emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.

Currently, CRA International has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), while Accenture has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell). This means that CRAI's earnings estimate revision activity has been more impressive, so investors should feel comfortable with its improving analyst outlook. 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.

CRAI currently has a forward P/E ratio of 14.18, while ACN has a forward P/E of 30.37. We also note that CRAI has a PEG ratio of 1.09. 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. ACN currently has a PEG ratio of 3.04.

Another notable valuation metric for CRAI is its P/B ratio of 1.74. 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, ACN has a P/B of 8.84.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to CRAI's Value grade of B and ACN's Value grade of C.

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


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