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HOLX vs. SONVY: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

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Investors interested in Medical - Instruments stocks are likely familiar with Hologic (HOLX - Free Report) and SONOVA HOLDING (SONVY - 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.

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 emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.

Hologic has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while SONOVA HOLDING has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now. This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that HOLX is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. 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.

The Value category of the Style Scores system identifies undervalued companies by looking at a number of key metrics. These include the long-favored P/E ratio, P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a variety of other fundamentals that help us determine a company's fair value.

HOLX currently has a forward P/E ratio of 18.42, while SONVY has a forward P/E of 27.87. We also note that HOLX has a PEG ratio of 2.50. 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. SONVY currently has a PEG ratio of 3.20.

Another notable valuation metric for HOLX is its P/B ratio of 3.72. 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, SONVY has a P/B of 8.11.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to HOLX's Value grade of B and SONVY's Value grade of C.

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


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