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ESLOY vs. ABT: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

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Investors looking for stocks in the Medical - Products sector might want to consider either EssilorLuxottica Unsponsored ADR (ESLOY - Free Report) or Abbott (ABT - 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.

The best way to find great value stocks is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system. The proven Zacks Rank emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.

EssilorLuxottica Unsponsored ADR has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Abbott has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now. This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that ESLOY is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. But this is only part of the picture for value investors.

Value investors are also interested in a number of tried-and-true valuation metrics that help show when a company is undervalued at its 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.

ESLOY currently has a forward P/E ratio of 22.04, while ABT has a forward P/E of 22.71. We also note that ESLOY has a PEG ratio of 1.05. 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. ABT currently has a PEG ratio of 3.95.

Another notable valuation metric for ESLOY is its P/B ratio of 1.55. 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, ABT has a P/B of 5.39.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to ESLOY's Value grade of B and ABT's Value grade of C.

ESLOY stands above ABT thanks to its solid earnings outlook, and based on these valuation figures, we also feel that ESLOY is the superior value option right now.


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