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ASTH 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 Astrana Health, Inc. (ASTH - Free Report) and U.S. Physical Therapy (USPH - 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 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.

Astrana Health, Inc. and U.S. Physical Therapy are sporting Zacks Ranks of #1 (Strong Buy) and #3 (Hold), respectively, right now. Investors should feel comfortable knowing that ASTH likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than USPH has recently. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

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.

ASTH currently has a forward P/E ratio of 23.09, while USPH has a forward P/E of 31.71. We also note that ASTH has a PEG ratio of 0.78. 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. USPH currently has a PEG ratio of 4.15.

Another notable valuation metric for ASTH is its P/B ratio of 2.28. 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, USPH has a P/B of 2.5.

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

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


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