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ATTO or PAYX: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors interested in Outsourcing stocks are likely familiar with Atento and Paychex (PAYX - 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.

We have found that the best way to discover great value opportunities is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with a great grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system. The proven Zacks Rank emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.

Atento and Paychex are sporting Zacks Ranks of #1 (Strong Buy) and #3 (Hold), respectively, right now. The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that ATTO has an improving earnings outlook. But this is only part of the picture for value investors.

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.

ATTO currently has a forward P/E ratio of 17.65, while PAYX has a forward P/E of 29.72. We also note that ATTO has a PEG ratio of 1.76. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. PAYX currently has a PEG ratio of 3.72.

Another notable valuation metric for ATTO is its P/B ratio of 2.92. 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, PAYX has a P/B of 10.89.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to ATTO's Value grade of A and PAYX's Value grade of D.

ATTO stands above PAYX thanks to its solid earnings outlook, and based on these valuation figures, we also feel that ATTO is the superior value option right now.


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