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ACM or ALTR: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors looking for stocks in the Engineering - R and D Services sector might want to consider either Aecom Technology (ACM - Free Report) or Altair Engineering (ALTR - 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 Zacks Rank favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.

Currently, Aecom Technology has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Altair Engineering has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). Investors should feel comfortable knowing that ACM likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than ALTR 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.

ACM currently has a forward P/E ratio of 20.35, while ALTR has a forward P/E of 71.86. We also note that ACM has a PEG ratio of 1.37. 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. ALTR currently has a PEG ratio of 5.99.

Another notable valuation metric for ACM is its P/B ratio of 5.16. 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, ALTR has a P/B of 10.30.

These metrics, and several others, help ACM earn a Value grade of B, while ALTR has been given a Value grade of F.

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


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