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NVST or ABT: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors looking for stocks in the Medical - Products sector might want to consider either Envista (NVST - Free Report) or Abbott (ABT - 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.

Envista and Abbott are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (Buy) and #3 (Hold), respectively, right now. This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that NVST is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. But this is only part of the picture for value investors.

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.

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.

NVST currently has a forward P/E ratio of 18.81, while ABT has a forward P/E of 24.16. We also note that NVST has a PEG ratio of 1.23. 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. ABT currently has a PEG ratio of 2.36.

Another notable valuation metric for NVST is its P/B ratio of 1.09. 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, ABT has a P/B of 4.41.

These metrics, and several others, help NVST earn a Value grade of B, while ABT has been given a Value grade of C.

NVST has seen stronger estimate revision activity and sports more attractive valuation metrics than ABT, so it seems like value investors will conclude that NVST is the superior option right now.


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