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CECE or CWST: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors looking for stocks in the Pollution Control sector might want to consider either CECO Environmental or Casella (CWST - 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.

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.

Currently, CECO Environmental has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Casella has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that CECE 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.

CECE currently has a forward P/E ratio of 15.08, while CWST has a forward P/E of 71.89. We also note that CECE has a PEG ratio of 1.01. 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. CWST currently has a PEG ratio of 5.07.

Another notable valuation metric for CECE is its P/B ratio of 1.59. 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, CWST has a P/B of 8.72.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to CECE's Value grade of B and CWST's Value grade of D.

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


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