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J vs. AQUA: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

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Investors looking for stocks in the Technology Services sector might want to consider either Jacobs Solutions (J - Free Report) or Evoqua Water . But which of these two stocks is more attractive to value investors? We'll need to take a closer look to find out.

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 Zacks Rank favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.

Jacobs Solutions has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Evoqua Water has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell) right now. The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that J has an improving earnings outlook. However, value investors will care about much more than just this.

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 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.

J currently has a forward P/E ratio of 15.66, while AQUA has a forward P/E of 52.93. We also note that J has a PEG ratio of 1.53. 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. AQUA currently has a PEG ratio of 3.53.

Another notable valuation metric for J is its P/B ratio of 2.35. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. For comparison, AQUA has a P/B of 8.30.

Based on these metrics and many more, J holds a Value grade of B, while AQUA has a Value grade of D.

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


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