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ASB vs. UMBF: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

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Investors with an interest in Banks - Midwest stocks have likely encountered both Associated Banc-Corp (ASB - Free Report) and UMB Financial (UMBF - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? Let's take a closer look.

The best way to find great value stocks is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system. The Zacks Rank favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.

Right now, Associated Banc-Corp is sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while UMB Financial has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). Investors should feel comfortable knowing that ASB likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than UMBF has recently. However, value investors will care about much more than just this.

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.

ASB currently has a forward P/E ratio of 10.04, while UMBF has a forward P/E of 11.46. We also note that ASB has a PEG ratio of 1.00. 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. UMBF currently has a PEG ratio of 1.35.

Another notable valuation metric for ASB is its P/B ratio of 0.94. 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, UMBF has a P/B of 1.32.

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

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


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