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AIT vs. EPOKY: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

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Investors with an interest in Manufacturing - General Industrial stocks have likely encountered both Applied Industrial Technologies (AIT - Free Report) and Epiroc Aktiebolag Unsponsored ADR (EPOKY - 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 puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

Applied Industrial Technologies has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Epiroc Aktiebolag Unsponsored ADR has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell) right now. Investors should feel comfortable knowing that AIT likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than EPOKY has recently. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

Value investors also tend to look at a number of traditional, tried-and-true figures to help them find stocks that they believe are undervalued at their 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.

AIT currently has a forward P/E ratio of 19.86, while EPOKY has a forward P/E of 27.58. We also note that AIT has a PEG ratio of 1.99. 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. EPOKY currently has a PEG ratio of 8.98.

Another notable valuation metric for AIT is its P/B ratio of 4.61. The P/B is a method of comparing a stock's market value to its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. By comparison, EPOKY has a P/B of 5.73.

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

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


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Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (AIT) - free report >>

Epiroc Aktiebolag Unsponsored ADR (EPOKY) - free report >>

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