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LGND vs. ILMN: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

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Investors interested in stocks from the Medical - Biomedical and Genetics sector have probably already heard of Ligand Pharmaceuticals (LGND - Free Report) and Illumina (ILMN - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks is more attractive to value investors? We'll need to take a closer look to find out.

We have found that the best way to discover great value opportunities is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with a great grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system. 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.

Right now, Ligand Pharmaceuticals is sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), while Illumina has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). Investors should feel comfortable knowing that LGND likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than ILMN has recently. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

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.

LGND currently has a forward P/E ratio of 14.41, while ILMN has a forward P/E of 144.13. We also note that LGND has a PEG ratio of 0.72. 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. ILMN currently has a PEG ratio of 6.49.

Another notable valuation metric for LGND is its P/B ratio of 2.01. 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, ILMN has a P/B of 4.78.

These metrics, and several others, help LGND earn a Value grade of B, while ILMN has been given a Value grade of D.

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


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