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ARCO or CMG: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors looking for stocks in the Retail - Restaurants sector might want to consider either Arcos Dorados (ARCO - Free Report) or Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? Let's take a closer look.

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

Currently, Arcos Dorados has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), while Chipotle Mexican Grill has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that ARCO has an improving earnings outlook. But this is just one piece of the puzzle for value investors.

Value investors are also interested in a number of tried-and-true valuation metrics that help show when 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.

ARCO currently has a forward P/E ratio of 11.76, while CMG has a forward P/E of 42.76. We also note that ARCO has a PEG ratio of 1.03. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. CMG currently has a PEG ratio of 1.59.

Another notable valuation metric for ARCO is its P/B ratio of 4.78. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. For comparison, CMG has a P/B of 18.42.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to ARCO's Value grade of A and CMG's Value grade of D.

ARCO stands above CMG thanks to its solid earnings outlook, and based on these valuation figures, we also feel that ARCO is the superior value option right now.


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Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (CMG) - free report >>

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