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PPC vs. HRL: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

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Investors looking for stocks in the Food - Meat Products sector might want to consider either Pilgrim's Pride (PPC - Free Report) or Hormel Foods (HRL - Free Report) . But which of these two companies is the best option for those looking for undervalued stocks? Let's take a closer look.

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

Right now, Pilgrim's Pride is sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), while Hormel Foods has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell). The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that PPC has an improving earnings outlook. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

Value investors analyze a variety of traditional, tried-and-true metrics to help find companies 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.

PPC currently has a forward P/E ratio of 9.08, while HRL has a forward P/E of 24.25. We also note that PPC has a PEG ratio of 1. 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. HRL currently has a PEG ratio of 3.27.

Another notable valuation metric for PPC is its P/B ratio of 2.26. The P/B is a method of comparing a stock's market value to its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. By comparison, HRL has a P/B of 3.70.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to PPC's Value grade of A and HRL's Value grade of C.

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


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