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HIBB vs. ULTA: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

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Investors interested in Retail - Miscellaneous stocks are likely familiar with Hibbett Sports and Ulta Beauty (ULTA - 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 Hibbett Sports and Ulta Beauty have a Zacks Rank of # 1 (Strong Buy) right now. The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that both of these companies have improving earnings outlooks. 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.

HIBB currently has a forward P/E ratio of 12.94, while ULTA has a forward P/E of 29.01. We also note that HIBB has a PEG ratio of 1.52. 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. ULTA currently has a PEG ratio of 1.76.

Another notable valuation metric for HIBB is its P/B ratio of 3.24. Investors use the P/B ratio to look at a stock's market value versus its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. By comparison, ULTA has a P/B of 10.30.

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

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


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