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GPK or AMCR: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors interested in stocks from the Containers - Paper and Packaging sector have probably already heard of Graphic Packaging (GPK - Free Report) and Amcor (AMCR - 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 emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.

Graphic Packaging has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Amcor has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell) right now. This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that GPK is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

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.

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.

GPK currently has a forward P/E ratio of 9.78, while AMCR has a forward P/E of 14.20. We also note that GPK has a PEG ratio of 0.39. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. AMCR currently has a PEG ratio of 3.59.

Another notable valuation metric for GPK is its P/B ratio of 3.56. 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, AMCR has a P/B of 4.20.

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

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


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