Back to top

Image: Bigstock

SAN vs. CM: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

Read MoreHide Full Article

Investors interested in Banks - Foreign stocks are likely familiar with Banco Santander (SAN - Free Report) and Canadian Imperial Bank (CM - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? Let's take a closer look.

Everyone has their own methods for finding great value opportunities, but our model includes pairing an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system with a strong Zacks Rank. The proven Zacks Rank puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

Banco Santander and Canadian Imperial Bank are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (Buy) and #4 (Sell), respectively, right now. The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that SAN has an improving earnings outlook. 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.

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.

SAN currently has a forward P/E ratio of 6.10, while CM has a forward P/E of 8.82. We also note that SAN has a PEG ratio of 0.38. 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. CM currently has a PEG ratio of 2.92.

Another notable valuation metric for SAN is its P/B ratio of 0.60. Investors use the P/B ratio to look at a stock's market value versus its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. By comparison, CM has a P/B of 1.06.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to SAN's Value grade of A and CM's Value grade of C.

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


See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:


Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM) - free report >>

Banco Santander, S.A. (SAN) - free report >>

Published in