Investors with an interest in Banks - Foreign stocks have likely encountered both Mitsubishi UFJ (MUFG Quick QuoteMUFG - Free Report) and Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS Quick QuoteBNS - 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.

Mitsubishi UFJ and Bank of Nova Scotia are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (Buy) and #3 (Hold), respectively, right now. The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that MUFG 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 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.

MUFG currently has a forward P/E ratio of 8.49, while BNS has a forward P/E of 8.69. We also note that MUFG has a PEG ratio of 0.85. 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. BNS currently has a PEG ratio of 2.14.

Another notable valuation metric for MUFG is its P/B ratio of 0.60. 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, BNS has a P/B of 1.15.

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

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