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SYF or AXP: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors interested in Financial - Miscellaneous Services stocks are likely familiar with Synchrony (SYF - Free Report) and American Express (AXP - Free Report) . But which of these two companies is the best option for those looking for undervalued stocks? Let's take a closer look.

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 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.

Synchrony has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while American Express 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 SYF 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 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.

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.

SYF currently has a forward P/E ratio of 9.64, while AXP has a forward P/E of 18.25. We also note that SYF has a PEG ratio of 1.75. 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. AXP currently has a PEG ratio of 3.20.

Another notable valuation metric for SYF is its P/B ratio of 1.69. 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, AXP has a P/B of 4.10.

Based on these metrics and many more, SYF holds a Value grade of A, while AXP has a Value grade of C.

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


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