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ACI vs. KMB: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

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Investors with an interest in Consumer Products - Staples stocks have likely encountered both Albertsons Companies, Inc. (ACI - Free Report) and Kimberly-Clark (KMB - 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.

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

Albertsons Companies, Inc. has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Kimberly-Clark has a Zacks Rank of #5 (Strong Sell) right now. Investors should feel comfortable knowing that ACI likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than KMB has recently. But this is only part of the picture 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.

ACI currently has a forward P/E ratio of 13.10, while KMB has a forward P/E of 21.73. We also note that ACI has a PEG ratio of 1.09. 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. KMB currently has a PEG ratio of 4.35.

Another notable valuation metric for ACI is its P/B ratio of 8.09. 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, KMB has a P/B of 63.74.

Based on these metrics and many more, ACI holds a Value grade of A, while KMB has a Value grade of C.

ACI stands above KMB thanks to its solid earnings outlook, and based on these valuation figures, we also feel that ACI is the superior value option right now.


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