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MGA vs. GNTX: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

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Investors interested in Automotive - Original Equipment stocks are likely familiar with Magna (MGA - Free Report) and Gentex (GNTX - 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.

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 proven Zacks Rank puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

Currently, Magna has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), while Gentex has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy). Investors should feel comfortable knowing that MGA likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than GNTX has recently. But this is just one piece of the puzzle for value investors.

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.

MGA currently has a forward P/E ratio of 12.48, while GNTX has a forward P/E of 18.05. We also note that MGA has a PEG ratio of 2.50. 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. GNTX currently has a PEG ratio of 8.72.

Another notable valuation metric for MGA is its P/B ratio of 2.09. 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, GNTX has a P/B of 4.47.

These metrics, and several others, help MGA earn a Value grade of B, while GNTX has been given a Value grade of D.

MGA 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 MGA is likely the superior value option right now.


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