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SYF vs. BAM: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

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Investors with an interest in Financial - Miscellaneous Services stocks have likely encountered both Synchrony (SYF - Free Report) and Brookfield Asset Management (BAM - 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.

The best way to find great value stocks is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system. The proven Zacks Rank emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.

Right now, Synchrony is sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), while Brookfield Asset Management has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). This means that SYF's earnings estimate revision activity has been more impressive, so investors should feel comfortable with its improving analyst outlook. But this is only part of the picture for value investors.

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.

SYF currently has a forward P/E ratio of 8.84, while BAM has a forward P/E of 38.79. We also note that SYF has a PEG ratio of 1.10. 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. BAM currently has a PEG ratio of 2.66.

Another notable valuation metric for SYF is its P/B ratio of 1.50. 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, BAM has a P/B of 7.60.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to SYF's Value grade of A and BAM's Value grade of D.

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


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Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. (BAM) - free report >>

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