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BCKIY vs. ALTR: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

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Investors interested in Engineering - R and D Services stocks are likely familiar with Babcock International Group PLC (BCKIY - Free Report) and Altair Engineering (ALTR - 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.

We have found that the best way to discover great value opportunities is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with a great grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system. The proven Zacks Rank puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

Babcock International Group PLC and Altair Engineering are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (Buy) and #3 (Hold), respectively, right now. The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that BCKIY has an improving earnings outlook. However, value investors will care about much more than just this.

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.

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.

BCKIY currently has a forward P/E ratio of 13.27, while ALTR has a forward P/E of 77.22. We also note that BCKIY has a PEG ratio of 0.37. 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 6.43.

Another notable valuation metric for BCKIY is its P/B ratio of 6.43. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. For comparison, ALTR has a P/B of 11.07.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to BCKIY's Value grade of A and ALTR's Value grade of F.

BCKIY 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 BCKIY is likely the superior value option right now.


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Altair Engineering Inc. (ALTR) - free report >>

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