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ZBH vs. LMAT: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

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Investors with an interest in Medical - Products stocks have likely encountered both Zimmer Biomet (ZBH - Free Report) and LeMaitre Vascular (LMAT - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks offers value investors a better bang for their buck right now? We'll need to 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.

Zimmer Biomet has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while LeMaitre Vascular has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now. This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that ZBH is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. But this is just one piece of the puzzle 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.

ZBH currently has a forward P/E ratio of 17.93, while LMAT has a forward P/E of 42.57. We also note that ZBH has a PEG ratio of 2.89. 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. LMAT currently has a PEG ratio of 4.26.

Another notable valuation metric for ZBH is its P/B ratio of 2.20. 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, LMAT has a P/B of 4.24.

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

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


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LeMaitre Vascular, Inc. (LMAT) - free report >>

Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc. (ZBH) - free report >>

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