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FELE or ABB: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors looking for stocks in the Manufacturing - Electronics sector might want to consider either Franklin Electric (FELE - Free Report) or ABB . 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.

Franklin Electric and ABB are both sporting a Zacks Rank of # 2 (Buy) right now. The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that both of these companies have improving earnings outlooks. However, value investors will care about much more than just this.

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.

FELE currently has a forward P/E ratio of 22.19, while ABB has a forward P/E of 22.20. We also note that FELE has a PEG ratio of 1.85. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. ABB currently has a PEG ratio of 3.58.

Another notable valuation metric for FELE is its P/B ratio of 4.04. 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, ABB has a P/B of 5.51.

Based on these metrics and many more, FELE holds a Value grade of B, while ABB has a Value grade of C.

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


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