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PFE or NVO: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors interested in stocks from the Large Cap Pharmaceuticals sector have probably already heard of Pfizer (PFE - Free Report) and Novo Nordisk (NVO - 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.

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

Currently, Pfizer has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Novo Nordisk has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that PFE has an improving earnings outlook. 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.

PFE currently has a forward P/E ratio of 12.03, while NVO has a forward P/E of 40.79. We also note that PFE has a PEG ratio of 1.12. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. NVO currently has a PEG ratio of 1.39.

Another notable valuation metric for PFE is its P/B ratio of 1.75. 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, NVO has a P/B of 43.56.

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

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


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