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LEN vs. NVR: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

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Investors interested in Building Products - Home Builders stocks are likely familiar with Lennar (LEN - Free Report) and NVR (NVR - 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.

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 favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.

Lennar has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), while NVR has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now. Investors should feel comfortable knowing that LEN likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than NVR has recently. 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.

LEN currently has a forward P/E ratio of 9.13, while NVR has a forward P/E of 17.45. We also note that LEN has a PEG ratio of 0.80. 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. NVR currently has a PEG ratio of 1.35.

Another notable valuation metric for LEN is its P/B ratio of 1.32. 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, NVR has a P/B of 5.08.

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

LEN is currently sporting an improving earnings outlook, which makes it stick out in our Zacks Rank model. And, based on the above valuation metrics, we feel that LEN is likely the superior value option right now.


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