Back to top

Image: Bigstock

TACO or CMG: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

Read MoreHide Full Article

Investors interested in Retail - Restaurants stocks are likely familiar with Del Taco Restaurants and Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG - 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.

Everyone has their own methods for finding great value opportunities, but our model includes pairing an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system with a strong Zacks Rank. 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.

Del Taco Restaurants and Chipotle Mexican Grill are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (Buy) and #3 (Hold), respectively, right now. This means that TACO's earnings estimate revision activity has been more impressive, so investors should feel comfortable with its improving analyst outlook. 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.

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.

TACO currently has a forward P/E ratio of 26.06, while CMG has a forward P/E of 64.85. We also note that TACO has a PEG ratio of 1.74. 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. CMG currently has a PEG ratio of 3.24.

Another notable valuation metric for TACO is its P/B ratio of 2.11. Investors use the P/B ratio to look at a stock's market value versus its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. By comparison, CMG has a P/B of 19.77.

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

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


See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:


Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (CMG) - free report >>

Published in