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FLEX vs. TRMB: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

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Investors interested in Electronics - Miscellaneous Products stocks are likely familiar with Flex (FLEX - Free Report) and Trimble Navigation (TRMB - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? Let's 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.

Flex has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Trimble Navigation has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now. This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that FLEX is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

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.

FLEX currently has a forward P/E ratio of 9.77, while TRMB has a forward P/E of 35.35. We also note that FLEX has a PEG ratio of 0.82. This figure is similar to the commonly-used P/E ratio, with the PEG ratio also factoring in a company's expected earnings growth rate. TRMB currently has a PEG ratio of 3.54.

Another notable valuation metric for FLEX is its P/B ratio of 2.46. 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, TRMB has a P/B of 5.92.

These metrics, and several others, help FLEX earn a Value grade of A, while TRMB has been given a Value grade of D.

FLEX has seen stronger estimate revision activity and sports more attractive valuation metrics than TRMB, so it seems like value investors will conclude that FLEX is the superior option right now.

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