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WF vs. ITUB: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

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Investors with an interest in Banks - Foreign stocks have likely encountered both Woori Bank (WF - Free Report) and Banco Itau (ITUB - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? Let's take a closer look.

Everyone has their own methods for finding great value opportunities, but our model includes pairing an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system with a strong Zacks Rank. 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.

Currently, both Woori Bank and Banco Itau are holding 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 piece of the puzzle for value investors.

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.

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.

WF currently has a forward P/E ratio of 6.46, while ITUB has a forward P/E of 9.30. We also note that WF has a PEG ratio of 1.01. This figure is similar to the commonly-used P/E ratio, with the PEG ratio also factoring in a company's expected earnings growth rate. ITUB currently has a PEG ratio of 1.04.

Another notable valuation metric for WF is its P/B ratio of 0.56. 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, ITUB has a P/B of 1.97.

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

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


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Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. (ITUB) - free report >>

Woori Bank (WF) - free report >>

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