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OPCH or CHE: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors interested in Medical - Outpatient and Home Healthcare stocks are likely familiar with Option Care (OPCH - Free Report) and Chemed (CHE - 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 proven Zacks Rank puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

Option Care and Chemed are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (Buy) and #4 (Sell), respectively, right now. This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that OPCH is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. 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.

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.

OPCH currently has a forward P/E ratio of 15.69, while CHE has a forward P/E of 19.47. We also note that OPCH has a PEG ratio of 1.45. 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. CHE currently has a PEG ratio of 2.27.

Another notable valuation metric for OPCH is its P/B ratio of 3.18. Investors use the P/B ratio to look at a stock's market value versus its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. By comparison, CHE has a P/B of 5.22.

These metrics, and several others, help OPCH earn a Value grade of A, while CHE has been given a Value grade of C.

OPCH has seen stronger estimate revision activity and sports more attractive valuation metrics than CHE, so it seems like value investors will conclude that OPCH is the superior option right now.


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Chemed Corporation (CHE) - free report >>

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