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OUT or CCI: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors interested in REIT and Equity Trust - Other stocks are likely familiar with Outfront Media (OUT - Free Report) and Crown Castle (CCI - 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 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.

Outfront Media has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Crown Castle 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 OUT is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. But this is just one piece of the puzzle for value investors.

Value investors also try to analyze a wide range of traditional figures and metrics to help determine whether 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.

OUT currently has a forward P/E ratio of 9.76, while CCI has a forward P/E of 14.60. We also note that OUT has a PEG ratio of 0.98. 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. CCI currently has a PEG ratio of 2.56.

Another notable valuation metric for OUT is its P/B ratio of 4.42. 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, CCI has a P/B of 6.89.

These metrics, and several others, help OUT earn a Value grade of B, while CCI has been given a Value grade of D.

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


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Crown Castle Inc. (CCI) - free report >>

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