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CTRA or RRC: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors interested in stocks from the Oil and Gas - Exploration and Production - United States sector have probably already heard of Coterra Energy (CTRA - Free Report) and Range Resources (RRC - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks is more attractive to value investors? We'll need to take a closer look to find out.

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 emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.

Coterra Energy and Range Resources are both sporting a Zacks Rank of # 1 (Strong Buy) right now. Investors should feel comfortable knowing that both of these stocks have an improving earnings outlook since the Zacks Rank favors companies that have witnessed positive analyst estimate revisions. But this is just one piece of the puzzle for value investors.

Value investors also tend to look at a number of traditional, tried-and-true figures to help them find stocks that they believe are undervalued at their 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.

CTRA currently has a forward P/E ratio of 5.39, while RRC has a forward P/E of 11.15. We also note that CTRA has a PEG ratio of 0.10. 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. RRC currently has a PEG ratio of 0.36.

Another notable valuation metric for CTRA is its P/B ratio of 3.67. 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, RRC has a P/B of 5.34.

Based on these metrics and many more, CTRA holds a Value grade of B, while RRC has a Value grade of D.

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


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