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JLL vs. BEKE: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

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Investors with an interest in Real Estate - Operations stocks have likely encountered both Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL - Free Report) and KE Holdings Inc. Sponsored ADR (BEKE - 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.

Jones Lang LaSalle has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), while KE Holdings Inc. Sponsored ADR has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell) right now. This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that JLL is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

Value investors analyze a variety of traditional, tried-and-true metrics to help find companies that they believe are undervalued at their 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.

JLL currently has a forward P/E ratio of 15.21, while BEKE has a forward P/E of 68.67. We also note that JLL has a PEG ratio of 1.69. 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. BEKE currently has a PEG ratio of 2.31.

Another notable valuation metric for JLL is its P/B ratio of 1.44. 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, BEKE has a P/B of 6.83.

Based on these metrics and many more, JLL holds a Value grade of B, while BEKE has a Value grade of F.

JLL has seen stronger estimate revision activity and sports more attractive valuation metrics than BEKE, so it seems like value investors will conclude that JLL is the superior option right now.


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