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BCKIY or ALTR: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors with an interest in Engineering - R and D Services stocks have likely encountered both 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.

Right now, Babcock International Group PLC is sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Altair Engineering has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). Investors should feel comfortable knowing that BCKIY likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than ALTR has recently. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

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 13.44, while ALTR has a forward P/E of 73.49. We also note that BCKIY has a PEG ratio of 0.32. 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 6.12.

Another notable valuation metric for BCKIY is its P/B ratio of 7.81. 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, ALTR has a P/B of 9.88.

Based on these metrics and many more, BCKIY holds a Value grade of B, while ALTR has a Value grade of F.

BCKIY sticks out from ALTR in both our Zacks Rank and Style Scores models, so value investors will likely feel that BCKIY is the better option right now.


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

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