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CE vs. LTHM: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

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Investors interested in Chemical - Specialty stocks are likely familiar with Celanese (CE - Free Report) and Livent . But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? Let's take a closer look.

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 favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.

Currently, Celanese has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Livent has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that CE is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

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.

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.

CE currently has a forward P/E ratio of 9.15, while LTHM has a forward P/E of 207.03. We also note that CE has a PEG ratio of 0.33. 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. LTHM currently has a PEG ratio of 4.60.

Another notable valuation metric for CE is its P/B ratio of 4.27. 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, LTHM has a P/B of 6.18.

Based on these metrics and many more, CE holds a Value grade of A, while LTHM has a Value grade of F.

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


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