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UGP vs. PBA: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

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Investors looking for stocks in the Oil and Gas - Production and Pipelines sector might want to consider either Ultrapar Participacoes S.A. (UGP - Free Report) or Pembina Pipeline (PBA - 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 Zacks Rank favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.

Ultrapar Participacoes S.A. and Pembina Pipeline are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (Buy) and #3 (Hold), respectively, right now. The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that UGP has an improving earnings outlook. However, value investors will care about much more than just this.

Value investors analyze a variety of traditional, tried-and-true metrics to help find companies that they believe are undervalued at their current share price levels.

The Value category of the Style Scores system identifies undervalued companies by looking at a number of key metrics. These include the long-favored P/E ratio, P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a variety of other fundamentals that help us determine a company's fair value.

UGP currently has a forward P/E ratio of 13.56, while PBA has a forward P/E of 14.29. We also note that UGP has a PEG ratio of 0.60. 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. PBA currently has a PEG ratio of 4.76.

Another notable valuation metric for UGP is its P/B ratio of 1.42. 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, PBA has a P/B of 1.89.

Based on these metrics and many more, UGP holds a Value grade of A, while PBA has a Value grade of C.

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


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Pembina Pipeline Corp. (PBA) - free report >>

Ultrapar Participacoes S.A. (UGP) - free report >>

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