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AGESY vs. PUK: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

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Investors interested in Insurance - Multi line stocks are likely familiar with Ageas SA (AGESY - Free Report) and Prudential (PUK - 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.

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 Zacks Rank is a proven strategy that targets companies with positive earnings estimate revision trends, while our Style Scores work to grade companies based on specific traits.

Ageas SA and Prudential are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (Buy) and #4 (Sell), respectively, right now. This means that AGESY's earnings estimate revision activity has been more impressive, so investors should feel comfortable with its improving analyst outlook. 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.

AGESY currently has a forward P/E ratio of 5.71, while PUK has a forward P/E of 13.68. We also note that AGESY has a PEG ratio of 0.41. 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. PUK currently has a PEG ratio of 1.52.

Another notable valuation metric for AGESY is its P/B ratio of 0.89. The P/B is a method of comparing a stock's market value to its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. By comparison, PUK has a P/B of 1.84.

Based on these metrics and many more, AGESY holds a Value grade of A, while PUK has a Value grade of C.

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


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