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ITOCY vs. TSCO: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

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Investors with an interest in Retail - Miscellaneous stocks have likely encountered both Itochu Corp. (ITOCY - Free Report) and Tractor Supply (TSCO - 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 Zacks Rank favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.

Both Itochu Corp. and Tractor Supply have a Zacks Rank of # 2 (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. However, value investors will care about much more than just this.

Value investors also try to analyze a wide range of traditional figures and metrics to help determine whether a company is undervalued at its 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.

ITOCY currently has a forward P/E ratio of 6.90, while TSCO has a forward P/E of 24.88. We also note that ITOCY has a PEG ratio of 0.45. 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. TSCO currently has a PEG ratio of 2.54.

Another notable valuation metric for ITOCY is its P/B ratio of 1.38. 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, TSCO has a P/B of 13.14.

These metrics, and several others, help ITOCY earn a Value grade of A, while TSCO has been given a Value grade of C.

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


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