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ATCO vs. BLK: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

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Investors looking for stocks in the Financial - Investment Management sector might want to consider either Atlas or BlackRock (BLK - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? Let's take a closer look.

The best way to find great value stocks is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system. The proven Zacks Rank puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

Atlas has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while BlackRock has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now. This means that ATCO's earnings estimate revision activity has been more impressive, so investors should feel comfortable with its improving analyst outlook. But this is just one piece of the puzzle for value investors.

Value investors analyze a variety of traditional, tried-and-true metrics to help find companies that they believe are undervalued at their 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.

ATCO currently has a forward P/E ratio of 10.02, while BLK has a forward P/E of 23.56. We also note that ATCO has a PEG ratio of 0.69. 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. BLK currently has a PEG ratio of 2.36.

Another notable valuation metric for ATCO is its P/B ratio of 0.90. 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, BLK has a P/B of 3.78.

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

ATCO is currently sporting an improving earnings outlook, which makes it stick out in our Zacks Rank model. And, based on the above valuation metrics, we feel that ATCO is likely the superior value option right now.


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