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CDW vs. NOW: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

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Investors interested in Computers - IT Services stocks are likely familiar with CDW (CDW - Free Report) and ServiceNow (NOW - 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 emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.

Currently, CDW has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while ServiceNow has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). Investors should feel comfortable knowing that CDW likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than NOW has recently. However, value investors will care about much more than just this.

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.

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.

CDW currently has a forward P/E ratio of 21.86, while NOW has a forward P/E of 84.86. We also note that CDW has a PEG ratio of 1.67. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. NOW currently has a PEG ratio of 3.05.

Another notable valuation metric for CDW is its P/B ratio of 17.10. 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, NOW has a P/B of 31.94.

These metrics, and several others, help CDW earn a Value grade of B, while NOW has been given a Value grade of F.

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


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