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DOV vs. IEX: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

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Investors looking for stocks in the Manufacturing - General Industrial sector might want to consider either Dover Corporation (DOV - Free Report) or Idex (IEX - 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.

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 proven Zacks Rank emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.

Dover Corporation has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Idex has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now. This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that DOV is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. 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.

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.

DOV currently has a forward P/E ratio of 15.94, while IEX has a forward P/E of 24.67. We also note that DOV has a PEG ratio of 1.14. 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. IEX currently has a PEG ratio of 2.06.

Another notable valuation metric for DOV is its P/B ratio of 4.49. Investors use the P/B ratio to look at a stock's market value versus its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. By comparison, IEX has a P/B of 4.91.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to DOV's Value grade of B and IEX's Value grade of D.

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


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