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

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Investors with an interest in Building Products - Home Builders stocks have likely encountered both Lennar (LEN - Free Report) and NVR (NVR - 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.

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

Currently, Lennar has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while NVR has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). Investors should feel comfortable knowing that LEN likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than NVR has recently. But this is only part of the picture for value investors.

Value investors also tend to look at a number of traditional, tried-and-true figures to help them find stocks 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.

LEN currently has a forward P/E ratio of 7.64, while NVR has a forward P/E of 12.46. We also note that LEN has a PEG ratio of 1.27. 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 2.93.

Another notable valuation metric for LEN is its P/B ratio of 1.14. 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, NVR has a P/B of 4.29.

These metrics, and several others, help LEN earn a Value grade of A, while NVR has been given a Value grade of C.

LEN has seen stronger estimate revision activity and sports more attractive valuation metrics than NVR, so it seems like value investors will conclude that LEN is the superior option right now.


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