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LGND vs. ILMN: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

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Investors looking for stocks in the Medical - Biomedical and Genetics sector might want to consider either Ligand Pharmaceuticals (LGND - Free Report) or Illumina (ILMN - Free Report) . But which of these two companies is the best option for those looking for undervalued stocks? Let's 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.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals and Illumina are sporting Zacks Ranks of #1 (Strong Buy) and #3 (Hold), respectively, right now. This means that LGND's earnings estimate revision activity has been more impressive, so investors should feel comfortable with its improving analyst outlook. However, value investors will care about much more than just this.

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.

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.

LGND currently has a forward P/E ratio of 9.86, while ILMN has a forward P/E of 146.30. We also note that LGND has a PEG ratio of 0.49. 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. ILMN currently has a PEG ratio of 6.59.

Another notable valuation metric for LGND is its P/B ratio of 1.31. 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, ILMN has a P/B of 2.75.

Based on these metrics and many more, LGND holds a Value grade of B, while ILMN has a Value grade of D.

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


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