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SAFE vs. AMH: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

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Investors with an interest in REIT and Equity Trust - Residential stocks have likely encountered both Safehold (SAFE - Free Report) and American Homes 4 Rent (AMH - 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.

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.

Safehold has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while American Homes 4 Rent has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now. The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that SAFE has an improving earnings outlook. However, value investors will care about much more than just this.

Value investors also tend to look at a number of traditional, tried-and-true figures to help them find stocks that they believe are undervalued at their 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.

SAFE currently has a forward P/E ratio of 10.18, while AMH has a forward P/E of 18.66. We also note that SAFE has a PEG ratio of 1.48. 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. AMH currently has a PEG ratio of 2.93.

Another notable valuation metric for SAFE is its P/B ratio of 0.49. 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, AMH has a P/B of 1.64.

These metrics, and several others, help SAFE earn a Value grade of B, while AMH has been given a Value grade of D.

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


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