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ELAN vs. USPH: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

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Investors interested in Medical - Outpatient and Home Healthcare stocks are likely familiar with Elanco Animal Health Incorporated (ELAN - Free Report) and U.S. Physical Therapy (USPH - 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.

We have found that the best way to discover great value opportunities is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with a great grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system. The Zacks Rank is a proven strategy that targets companies with positive earnings estimate revision trends, while our Style Scores work to grade companies based on specific traits.

Elanco Animal Health Incorporated has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while U.S. Physical Therapy has a Zacks Rank of #5 (Strong Sell) right now. The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that ELAN has an improving earnings outlook. 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.

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.

ELAN currently has a forward P/E ratio of 17.91, while USPH has a forward P/E of 30.39. We also note that ELAN has a PEG ratio of 2.93. 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. USPH currently has a PEG ratio of 3.66.

Another notable valuation metric for ELAN is its P/B ratio of 1.17. 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, USPH has a P/B of 2.3.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to ELAN's Value grade of B and USPH's Value grade of D.

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


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U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc. (USPH) - free report >>

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