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INTC vs. STM: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

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Investors interested in stocks from the Semiconductor - General sector have probably already heard of Intel (INTC - Free Report) and STMicroelectronics (STM - 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 Zacks Rank favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.

Both Intel and STMicroelectronics have a Zacks Rank of # 2 (Buy) right now. This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that these stocks have improving earnings outlooks. 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.

INTC currently has a forward P/E ratio of 11.95, while STM has a forward P/E of 23.01. We also note that INTC has a PEG ratio of 1.59. 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. STM currently has a PEG ratio of 4.60.

Another notable valuation metric for INTC is its P/B ratio of 2.97. The P/B ratio is used to compare a stock's market value with its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. For comparison, STM has a P/B of 4.49.

Based on these metrics and many more, INTC holds a Value grade of A, while STM has a Value grade of D.

Both INTC and STM are impressive stocks with solid earnings outlooks, but based on these valuation figures, we feel that INTC is the superior value option right now.


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