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CVS or DHR: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors with an interest in Medical Services stocks have likely encountered both CVS Health (CVS - Free Report) and Danaher (DHR - 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 puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

CVS Health has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Danaher has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now. This means that CVS's earnings estimate revision activity has been more impressive, so investors should feel comfortable with its improving analyst outlook. But this is only part of the picture for value investors.

Value investors are also interested in a number of tried-and-true valuation metrics that help show when a company is undervalued at its current share price levels.

Our Value category grades stocks based on a number of key metrics, including the tried-and-true P/E ratio, the P/S ratio, earnings yield, and cash flow per share, as well as a variety of other fundamentals that value investors frequently use.

CVS currently has a forward P/E ratio of 10.36, while DHR has a forward P/E of 25.83. We also note that CVS has a PEG ratio of 0.73. 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. DHR currently has a PEG ratio of 2.80.

Another notable valuation metric for CVS is its P/B ratio of 1.07. The P/B is a method of comparing a stock's market value to its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. By comparison, DHR has a P/B of 2.74.

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

CVS sticks out from DHR in both our Zacks Rank and Style Scores models, so value investors will likely feel that CVS is the better option right now.


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