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ARI or LADR: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors interested in stocks from the REIT and Equity Trust sector have probably already heard of Apollo Commerical Finance (ARI - Free Report) and Ladder Capital (LADR - 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 proven Zacks Rank emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.

Apollo Commerical Finance has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Ladder Capital has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell) right now. Investors should feel comfortable knowing that ARI likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than LADR has recently. But this is just one piece of the puzzle 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.

Our Value category highlights undervalued companies by looking at a variety of key metrics, including the popular P/E ratio, as well as the P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a variety of other fundamentals that have been used by value investors for years.

ARI currently has a forward P/E ratio of 9.31, while LADR has a forward P/E of 10.74. We also note that ARI has a PEG ratio of 0.24. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. LADR currently has a PEG ratio of 2.16.

Another notable valuation metric for ARI is its P/B ratio of 0.72. 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, LADR has a P/B of 0.87.

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

ARI is currently sporting an improving earnings outlook, which makes it stick out in our Zacks Rank model. And, based on the above valuation metrics, we feel that ARI is likely the superior value option right now.


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