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SKWD or PGR: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors looking for stocks in the Insurance - Property and Casualty sector might want to consider either Skyward Specialty Insurance (SKWD - Free Report) or Progressive (PGR - 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.

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 favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.

Currently, Skyward Specialty Insurance has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), while Progressive has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy). This means that SKWD's earnings estimate revision activity has been more impressive, so investors should feel comfortable with its improving analyst outlook. However, value investors will care about much more than just this.

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.

The Style Score Value grade factors in a variety of key fundamental metrics, including the popular P/E ratio, P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a number of other key stats that are commonly used by value investors.

SKWD currently has a forward P/E ratio of 12.62, while PGR has a forward P/E of 17.97. We also note that SKWD has a PEG ratio of 0.70. This popular figure is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also considers a company's expected EPS growth rate. PGR currently has a PEG ratio of 0.75.

Another notable valuation metric for SKWD is its P/B ratio of 2.13. 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, PGR has a P/B of 5.42.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to SKWD's Value grade of A and PGR's Value grade of C.

SKWD stands above PGR thanks to its solid earnings outlook, and based on these valuation figures, we also feel that SKWD is the superior value option right now.


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