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ARCB or SAIA: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors with an interest in Transportation - Truck stocks have likely encountered both ArcBest (ARCB - Free Report) and Saia (SAIA - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? 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 proven Zacks Rank puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

Right now, both ArcBest and Saia are sporting a Zacks Rank of # 2 (Buy). 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. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

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.

ARCB currently has a forward P/E ratio of 7.98, while SAIA has a forward P/E of 21.64. We also note that ARCB has a PEG ratio of 0.21. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. SAIA currently has a PEG ratio of 1.03.

Another notable valuation metric for ARCB is its P/B ratio of 2.34. 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, SAIA has a P/B of 5.64.

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

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


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