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EWBC vs. BOH: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

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Investors interested in Banks - West stocks are likely familiar with East West Bancorp (EWBC - Free Report) and Bank of Hawaii (BOH - 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.

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.

East West Bancorp has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Bank of Hawaii has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now. This means that EWBC's earnings estimate revision activity has been more impressive, so investors should feel comfortable with its improving analyst outlook. 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.

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.

EWBC currently has a forward P/E ratio of 8.77, while BOH has a forward P/E of 13.48. We also note that EWBC has a PEG ratio of 0.88. 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. BOH currently has a PEG ratio of 1.69.

Another notable valuation metric for EWBC is its P/B ratio of 1.73. 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, BOH has a P/B of 2.61.

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

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


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Bank of Hawaii Corporation (BOH) - free report >>

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