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LXFR or NDSN: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors interested in stocks from the Manufacturing - General Industrial sector have probably already heard of Luxfer (LXFR - Free Report) and Nordson (NDSN - 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 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.

Right now, Luxfer is sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Nordson has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell). This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that LXFR is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. However, value investors will care about much more than just this.

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.

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.

LXFR currently has a forward P/E ratio of 10.45, while NDSN has a forward P/E of 23.01. We also note that LXFR has a PEG ratio of 0.80. 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. NDSN currently has a PEG ratio of 1.77.

Another notable valuation metric for LXFR is its P/B ratio of 2.05. 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, NDSN has a P/B of 5.43.

Based on these metrics and many more, LXFR holds a Value grade of B, while NDSN has a Value grade of D.

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


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Nordson Corporation (NDSN) - free report >>

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