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URI vs. JHX: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

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Investors with an interest in Building Products - Miscellaneous stocks have likely encountered both United Rentals (URI - Free Report) and James Hardie (JHX - Free Report) . But which of these two companies is the best option for those looking for undervalued stocks? 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 proven Zacks Rank puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

Right now, United Rentals is sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), while James Hardie has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). This means that URI's earnings estimate revision activity has been more impressive, so investors should feel comfortable with its improving analyst outlook. 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.

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.

URI currently has a forward P/E ratio of 10.57, while JHX has a forward P/E of 15.17. We also note that URI has a PEG ratio of 0.65. 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. JHX currently has a PEG ratio of 5.29.

Another notable valuation metric for URI is its P/B ratio of 4.21. 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, JHX has a P/B of 6.69.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to URI's Value grade of B and JHX's Value grade of C.

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


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