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LEN or NVR: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors interested in stocks from the Building Products - Home Builders sector have probably already heard of Lennar (LEN - Free Report) and NVR (NVR - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks offers value investors a better bang for their buck right now? We'll need to 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 emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.

Lennar has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), while NVR 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 LEN is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. But this is just one piece of the puzzle for value investors.

Value investors also try to analyze a wide range of traditional figures and metrics to help determine whether a company is undervalued at its 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.

LEN currently has a forward P/E ratio of 10.36, while NVR has a forward P/E of 15.82. We also note that LEN has a PEG ratio of 1.73. 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. NVR currently has a PEG ratio of 3.72.

Another notable valuation metric for LEN is its P/B ratio of 1.50. 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, NVR has a P/B of 5.45.

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

LEN is currently sporting an improving earnings outlook, which makes it stick out in our Zacks Rank model. And, based on the above valuation metrics, we feel that LEN is likely the superior value option right now.


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