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UHS vs. ACHC: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

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Investors with an interest in Medical - Hospital stocks have likely encountered both Universal Health Services (UHS - Free Report) and Acadia Healthcare (ACHC - Free Report) . But which of these two companies is the best option for those looking for undervalued stocks? Let's take a closer look.

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 puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

Universal Health Services and Acadia Healthcare are both sporting a Zacks Rank of # 2 (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 piece of the puzzle for value investors.

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.

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.

UHS currently has a forward P/E ratio of 12.69, while ACHC has a forward P/E of 24.54. We also note that UHS has a PEG ratio of 1.95. 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. ACHC currently has a PEG ratio of 6.82.

Another notable valuation metric for UHS is its P/B ratio of 1.99. 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, ACHC has a P/B of 2.41.

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

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


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Universal Health Services, Inc. (UHS) - free report >>

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