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BMA or ITUB: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors interested in Banks - Foreign stocks are likely familiar with Banco Macro (BMA - Free Report) and Banco Itau (ITUB - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? Let's take a closer look.

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.

Banco Macro has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), while Banco Itau has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) right now. This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that BMA is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. However, value investors will care about much more than just this.

Value investors also tend to look at a number of traditional, tried-and-true figures to help them find stocks 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.

BMA currently has a forward P/E ratio of 7.43, while ITUB has a forward P/E of 9.03. We also note that BMA has a PEG ratio of 0.28. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. ITUB currently has a PEG ratio of 1.02.

Another notable valuation metric for BMA is its P/B ratio of 1.14. 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, ITUB has a P/B of 1.97.

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

BMA stands above ITUB thanks to its solid earnings outlook, and based on these valuation figures, we also feel that BMA is the superior value option right now.


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Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. (ITUB) - free report >>

Macro Bank Inc. (BMA) - free report >>

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