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GTLS or CR: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors with an interest in Manufacturing - General Industrial stocks have likely encountered both Chart Industries (GTLS - Free Report) and Crane (CR - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks is more attractive to value investors? We'll need to take a closer look to find out.

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.

Both Chart Industries and Crane have a Zacks Rank of # 2 (Buy) right now. The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that both of these companies have improving earnings outlooks. However, value investors will care about much more than just this.

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 grades stocks based on a number of key metrics, including the tried-and-true P/E ratio, the P/S ratio, earnings yield, and cash flow per share, as well as a variety of other fundamentals that value investors frequently use.

GTLS currently has a forward P/E ratio of 13.19, while CR has a forward P/E of 29.22. We also note that GTLS has a PEG ratio of 0.43. 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. CR currently has a PEG ratio of 2.28.

Another notable valuation metric for GTLS is its P/B ratio of 2.34. The P/B ratio is used to compare a stock's market value with its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. For comparison, CR has a P/B of 5.87.

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

Both GTLS and CR are impressive stocks with solid earnings outlooks, but based on these valuation figures, we feel that GTLS is the superior value option right now.


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