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KB or SMFG: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors interested in Banks - Foreign stocks are likely familiar with KB Financial (KB - Free Report) and Sumitomo Mitsui (SMFG - 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.

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 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.

KB Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (Buy) and #4 (Sell), respectively, right now. This means that KB's earnings estimate revision activity has been more impressive, so investors should feel comfortable with its improving analyst outlook. However, value investors will care about much more than just this.

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 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.

KB currently has a forward P/E ratio of 7.20, while SMFG has a forward P/E of 10.89. We also note that KB has a PEG ratio of 0.61. This popular figure is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also considers a company's expected EPS growth rate. SMFG currently has a PEG ratio of 0.67.

Another notable valuation metric for KB is its P/B ratio of 0.74. 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, SMFG has a P/B of 0.9.

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

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


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