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PH or NDSN: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors with an interest in Manufacturing - General Industrial stocks have likely encountered both Parker-Hannifin (PH - Free Report) and Nordson (NDSN - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks is more attractive to value investors? We'll need to take a closer look to find out.

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.

Right now, Parker-Hannifin is sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Nordson has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). This means that PH's earnings estimate revision activity has been more impressive, so investors should feel comfortable with its improving analyst outlook. But this is only part of the picture for value investors.

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 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.

PH currently has a forward P/E ratio of 15.49, while NDSN has a forward P/E of 25.03. We also note that PH has a PEG ratio of 1.31. 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. NDSN currently has a PEG ratio of 1.93.

Another notable valuation metric for PH is its P/B ratio of 4.35. The P/B is a method of comparing a stock's market value to its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. By comparison, NDSN has a P/B of 5.93.

These metrics, and several others, help PH earn a Value grade of B, while NDSN has been given a Value grade of D.

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


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