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BCKIY vs. STRL: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

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Investors with an interest in Engineering - R and D Services stocks have likely encountered both Babcock International Group PLC (BCKIY - Free Report) and Sterling Infrastructure (STRL - 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 Zacks Rank favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.

Right now, both Babcock International Group PLC and Sterling Infrastructure are sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy). This means that both companies have witnessed positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that both of these stocks have an improving earnings outlook. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

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 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.

BCKIY currently has a forward P/E ratio of 18.29, while STRL has a forward P/E of 31.24. We also note that BCKIY has a PEG ratio of 1.33. 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. STRL currently has a PEG ratio of 2.08.

Another notable valuation metric for BCKIY is its P/B ratio of 8.7. The P/B ratio is used to compare a stock's market value with its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. For comparison, STRL has a P/B of 9.28.

Based on these metrics and many more, BCKIY holds a Value grade of B, while STRL has a Value grade of D.

Both BCKIY and STRL are impressive stocks with solid earnings outlooks, but based on these valuation figures, we feel that BCKIY is the superior value option right now.


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Sterling Infrastructure, Inc. (STRL) - free report >>

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