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BOH vs. FRC: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

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Investors interested in stocks from the Banks - West sector have probably already heard of Bank of Hawaii (BOH - Free Report) and First Republic Bank . But which of these two stocks is more attractive to value investors? We'll need to take a closer look to find out.

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 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.

Right now, Bank of Hawaii is sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while First Republic Bank has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). Investors should feel comfortable knowing that BOH likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than FRC has recently. But this is just one piece of the puzzle 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.

BOH currently has a forward P/E ratio of 13.82, while FRC has a forward P/E of 28.69. We also note that BOH has a PEG ratio of 1.73. 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. FRC currently has a PEG ratio of 1.75.

Another notable valuation metric for BOH is its P/B ratio of 2.40. 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, FRC has a P/B of 3.20.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to BOH's Value grade of B and FRC's Value grade of D.

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


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