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HUN or APD: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors interested in Chemical - Diversified stocks are likely familiar with Huntsman (HUN - Free Report) and Air Products and Chemicals (APD - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? 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 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.

Huntsman and Air Products and Chemicals are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (Buy) and #5 (Strong Sell), respectively, right now. Investors should feel comfortable knowing that HUN likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than APD has recently. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

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.

HUN currently has a forward P/E ratio of 29, while APD has a forward P/E of 29.60. We also note that HUN has a PEG ratio of 3.25. This figure is similar to the commonly-used P/E ratio, with the PEG ratio also factoring in a company's expected earnings growth rate. APD currently has a PEG ratio of 3.47.

Another notable valuation metric for HUN is its P/B ratio of 1.69. 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, APD has a P/B of 4.79.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to HUN's Value grade of B and APD's Value grade of D.

HUN 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 HUN is likely the superior value option right now.


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Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (APD) - free report >>

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