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OC or AWI: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors with an interest in Building Products - Miscellaneous stocks have likely encountered both Owens Corning (OC - Free Report) and Armstrong World Industries (AWI - 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.

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.

Currently, Owens Corning has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), while Armstrong World Industries has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that OC has an improving earnings outlook. But this is just one piece of the puzzle for value investors.

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 grades stocks based on a number of key metrics, including the tried-and-true P/E ratio, the P/S ratio, earnings yield, and cash flow per share, as well as a variety of other fundamentals that value investors frequently use.

OC currently has a forward P/E ratio of 16.49, while AWI has a forward P/E of 21.57. We also note that OC has a PEG ratio of 1.56. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. AWI currently has a PEG ratio of 13.07.

Another notable valuation metric for OC is its P/B ratio of 2.07. The P/B is a method of comparing a stock's market value to its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. By comparison, AWI has a P/B of 8.45.

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

OC sticks out from AWI in both our Zacks Rank and Style Scores models, so value investors will likely feel that OC is the better option right now.


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Armstrong World Industries, Inc. (AWI) - free report >>

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