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HCKT or IT: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors looking for stocks in the Consulting Services sector might want to consider either Hackett Group (HCKT - Free Report) or Gartner (IT - 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 puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

Hackett Group and Gartner are both sporting a Zacks Rank of # 2 (Buy) right now. Investors should feel comfortable knowing that both of these stocks have an improving earnings outlook since the Zacks Rank favors companies that have witnessed positive analyst estimate revisions. 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.

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.

HCKT currently has a forward P/E ratio of 11.32, while IT has a forward P/E of 33.75. We also note that HCKT has a PEG ratio of 0.84. 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. IT currently has a PEG ratio of 5.19.

Another notable valuation metric for HCKT is its P/B ratio of 9.92. 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, IT has a P/B of 111.33.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to HCKT's Value grade of A and IT's Value grade of C.

Both HCKT and IT are impressive stocks with solid earnings outlooks, but based on these valuation figures, we feel that HCKT is the superior value option right now.


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