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INCY or TECH: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors looking for stocks in the Medical - Biomedical and Genetics sector might want to consider either Incyte (INCY - Free Report) or Techne (TECH - 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.

Currently, Incyte has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Techne has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell). This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that INCY is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

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 Value category of the Style Scores system identifies undervalued companies by looking at a number of key metrics. These include the long-favored P/E ratio, P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a variety of other fundamentals that help us determine a company's fair value.

INCY currently has a forward P/E ratio of 11.80, while TECH has a forward P/E of 24.67. We also note that INCY has a PEG ratio of 0.47. 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. TECH currently has a PEG ratio of 2.17.

Another notable valuation metric for INCY is its P/B ratio of 3.6. 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, TECH has a P/B of 4.03.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to INCY's Value grade of A and TECH's Value grade of C.

INCY 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 INCY is likely the superior value option right now.


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