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AB vs. BLK: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

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Investors interested in Financial - Investment Management stocks are likely familiar with AllianceBernstein (AB - Free Report) and BlackRock (BLK - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks offers value investors a better bang for their buck right now? We'll need to 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 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.

Currently, AllianceBernstein has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), while BlackRock has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). Investors should feel comfortable knowing that AB likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than BLK has recently. But this is only part of the picture for value investors.

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.

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.

AB currently has a forward P/E ratio of 11.33, while BLK has a forward P/E of 19.84. We also note that AB has a PEG ratio of 0.83. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. BLK currently has a PEG ratio of 2.

Another notable valuation metric for AB is its P/B ratio of 1.92. 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, BLK has a P/B of 3.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to AB's Value grade of B and BLK's Value grade of D.

AB is currently sporting an improving earnings outlook, which makes it stick out in our Zacks Rank model. And, based on the above valuation metrics, we feel that AB is likely the superior value option right now.


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