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PKX vs. X: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

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Investors interested in Steel - Producers stocks are likely familiar with Posco (PKX - Free Report) and United States Steel (X - 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.

Right now, Posco is sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while United States Steel has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). Investors should feel comfortable knowing that PKX likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than X 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.

PKX currently has a forward P/E ratio of 12.39, while X has a forward P/E of 32.92. We also note that PKX has a PEG ratio of 0.34. 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. X currently has a PEG ratio of 1.63.

Another notable valuation metric for PKX is its P/B ratio of 0.34. 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, X has a P/B of 1.07.

These metrics, and several others, help PKX earn a Value grade of A, while X has been given a Value grade of C.

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


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