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SKFRY or ESAB: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors interested in stocks from the Metal Products - Procurement and Fabrication sector have probably already heard of AB SKF (SKFRY - Free Report) and Esab (ESAB - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? 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 puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

Right now, AB SKF is sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), while Esab has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy). Investors should feel comfortable knowing that SKFRY likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than ESAB has recently. But this is only part of the picture for value investors.

Value investors analyze a variety of traditional, tried-and-true metrics to help find companies 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.

SKFRY currently has a forward P/E ratio of 12.69, while ESAB has a forward P/E of 17.97. We also note that SKFRY has a PEG ratio of 0.49. 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. ESAB currently has a PEG ratio of 1.53.

Another notable valuation metric for SKFRY is its P/B ratio of 1.58. 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, ESAB has a P/B of 3.39.

These metrics, and several others, help SKFRY earn a Value grade of B, while ESAB has been given a Value grade of C.

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


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