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HMY or FNV: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors interested in stocks from the Mining - Gold sector have probably already heard of Harmony Gold (HMY - Free Report) and Franco-Nevada (FNV - 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 puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

Both Harmony Gold and Franco-Nevada have a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy) right now. Investors should feel comfortable knowing that both of these stocks have an improving earnings outlook since the Zacks Rank favors companies that have witnessed positive analyst estimate revisions. But this is only part of the picture for value investors.

Value investors are also interested in a number of tried-and-true valuation metrics that help show when a company is undervalued at its 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.

HMY currently has a forward P/E ratio of 12.84, while FNV has a forward P/E of 37.55. We also note that HMY has a PEG ratio of 0.23. 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. FNV currently has a PEG ratio of 2.37.

Another notable valuation metric for HMY is its P/B ratio of 3.55. The P/B ratio is used to compare a stock's market value with its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. For comparison, FNV has a P/B of 5.15.

Based on these metrics and many more, HMY holds a Value grade of B, while FNV has a Value grade of F.

Both HMY and FNV are impressive stocks with solid earnings outlooks, but based on these valuation figures, we feel that HMY is the superior value option right now.

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