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BAH or IT: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors looking for stocks in the Consulting Services sector might want to consider either Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH - Free Report) or Gartner (IT - 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 Zacks Rank favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.

Booz Allen Hamilton and Gartner are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (Buy) and #4 (Sell), respectively, right now. This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that BAH is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. But this is just one piece of the puzzle for value investors.

Value investors also try to analyze a wide range of traditional figures and metrics to help determine whether a company is undervalued at its 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.

BAH currently has a forward P/E ratio of 17.37, while IT has a forward P/E of 36.78. We also note that BAH has a PEG ratio of 1.24. This figure is similar to the commonly-used P/E ratio, with the PEG ratio also factoring in a company's expected earnings growth rate. IT currently has a PEG ratio of 3.01.

Another notable valuation metric for BAH is its P/B ratio of 11.68. 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, IT has a P/B of 26.17.

Based on these metrics and many more, BAH holds a Value grade of A, while IT has a Value grade of D.

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


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