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LH or CNMD: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors with an interest in Medical - Dental Supplies stocks have likely encountered both LabCorp (LH - Free Report) and Conmed (CNMD - 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.

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.

Right now, LabCorp is sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), while Conmed has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). This means that LH'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 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.

LH currently has a forward P/E ratio of 9.87, while CNMD has a forward P/E of 46.57. We also note that LH has a PEG ratio of 0.97. 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. CNMD currently has a PEG ratio of 4.33.

Another notable valuation metric for LH is its P/B ratio of 2.38. 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, CNMD has a P/B of 4.16.

These metrics, and several others, help LH earn a Value grade of B, while CNMD has been given a Value grade of C.

LH stands above CNMD thanks to its solid earnings outlook, and based on these valuation figures, we also feel that LH is the superior value option right now.


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