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GEF vs. ATR: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

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Investors with an interest in Containers - Paper and Packaging stocks have likely encountered both Greif (GEF - Free Report) and AptarGroup (ATR - 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 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.

Greif has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), while AptarGroup has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell) right now. Investors should feel comfortable knowing that GEF likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than ATR has recently. But this is just one piece of the puzzle 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.

GEF currently has a forward P/E ratio of 7.51, while ATR has a forward P/E of 24.44. We also note that GEF has a PEG ratio of 0.75. This popular figure is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also considers a company's expected EPS growth rate. ATR currently has a PEG ratio of 3.49.

Another notable valuation metric for GEF is its P/B ratio of 1.65. 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, ATR has a P/B of 3.15.

These metrics, and several others, help GEF earn a Value grade of A, while ATR has been given a Value grade of C.

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


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