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KMI or WMB: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors with an interest in Oil and Gas - Production and Pipelines stocks have likely encountered both Kinder Morgan (KMI - Free Report) and Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (WMB - 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.

The best way to find great value stocks is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system. The proven Zacks Rank puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

Kinder Morgan and Williams Companies, Inc. (The) are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (Buy) and #3 (Hold), respectively, right now. This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that KMI 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 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.

The Style Score Value grade factors in a variety of key fundamental metrics, including the popular P/E ratio, P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a number of other key stats that are commonly used by value investors.

KMI currently has a forward P/E ratio of 15.10, while WMB has a forward P/E of 17.67. We also note that KMI has a PEG ratio of 5.03. 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. WMB currently has a PEG ratio of 5.05.

Another notable valuation metric for KMI is its P/B ratio of 1.16. 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, WMB has a P/B of 2.93.

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

KMI 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 KMI is likely the superior value option right now.


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Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (WMB) - free report >>

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