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ATCO or BLK: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors with an interest in Financial - Investment Management stocks have likely encountered both Atlas and BlackRock (BLK - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? Let's take a closer look.

Everyone has their own methods for finding great value opportunities, but our model includes pairing an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system with a strong Zacks Rank. 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.

Currently, Atlas has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while BlackRock has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). Investors should feel comfortable knowing that ATCO likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than BLK has recently. But this is only part of the picture for value investors.

Value investors also tend to look at a number of traditional, tried-and-true figures to help them find stocks 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.

ATCO currently has a forward P/E ratio of 9.40, while BLK has a forward P/E of 17.33. We also note that ATCO has a PEG ratio of 2.35. 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. BLK currently has a PEG ratio of 3.08.

Another notable valuation metric for ATCO is its P/B ratio of 0.94. 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, BLK has a P/B of 2.35.

Based on these metrics and many more, ATCO holds a Value grade of B, while BLK has a Value grade of D.

ATCO has seen stronger estimate revision activity and sports more attractive valuation metrics than BLK, so it seems like value investors will conclude that ATCO is the superior option right now.


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