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WSM vs. RH: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

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Investors interested in stocks from the Retail - Home Furnishings sector have probably already heard of Williams-Sonoma (WSM - Free Report) and Restoration Hardware (RH - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks offers value investors a better bang for their buck right now? We'll need to take a closer look.

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 Zacks Rank favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.

Williams-Sonoma and Restoration Hardware are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (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 WSM has an improving earnings outlook. But this is only part of the picture 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.

WSM currently has a forward P/E ratio of 13.77, while RH has a forward P/E of 30.99. We also note that WSM has a PEG ratio of 1.52. 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. RH currently has a PEG ratio of 1.77.

Another notable valuation metric for WSM is its P/B ratio of 8.27. 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, RH has a P/B of 24.48.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to WSM's Value grade of A and RH's Value grade of C.

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


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