Back to top

Image: Bigstock

USFD vs. NSRGY: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

Read MoreHide Full Article

Investors interested in Food - Miscellaneous stocks are likely familiar with US Foods (USFD - Free Report) and Nestle SA (NSRGY - 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 proven Zacks Rank puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

US Foods and Nestle SA are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (Buy) and #3 (Hold), respectively, right now. Investors should feel comfortable knowing that USFD likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than NSRGY has recently. But this is only part of the picture for value investors.

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.

Our Value category highlights undervalued companies by looking at a variety of key metrics, including the popular P/E ratio, as well as the P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a variety of other fundamentals that have been used by value investors for years.

USFD currently has a forward P/E ratio of 12.25, while NSRGY has a forward P/E of 21.67. We also note that USFD has a PEG ratio of 0.61. 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. NSRGY currently has a PEG ratio of 2.55.

Another notable valuation metric for USFD is its P/B ratio of 1.56. 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, NSRGY has a P/B of 6.21.

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

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


See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:


Nestle SA (NSRGY) - free report >>

US Foods Holding Corp. (USFD) - free report >>

Published in