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EBKDY or HDB: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors interested in stocks from the Banks - Foreign sector have probably already heard of Erste Group Bank AG (EBKDY - Free Report) and HDFC Bank (HDB - 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 is a proven strategy that targets companies with positive earnings estimate revision trends, while our Style Scores work to grade companies based on specific traits.

Erste Group Bank AG has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while HDFC Bank has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell) right now. The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that EBKDY has an improving earnings 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.

EBKDY currently has a forward P/E ratio of 10.79, while HDB has a forward P/E of 27.21. We also note that EBKDY has a PEG ratio of 0.47. 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. HDB currently has a PEG ratio of 1.33.

Another notable valuation metric for EBKDY is its P/B ratio of 0.69. 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, HDB has a P/B of 4.53.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to EBKDY's Value grade of B and HDB's Value grade of C.

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


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