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CPAY or MA: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors interested in Financial Transaction Services stocks are likely familiar with Corpay (CPAY - Free Report) and MasterCard (MA - Free Report) . But which of these two companies is the best option for those looking for undervalued stocks? 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.

Currently, Corpay has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while MasterCard has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that CPAY has an improving earnings outlook. 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 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.

CPAY currently has a forward P/E ratio of 13.49, while MA has a forward P/E of 34.20. We also note that CPAY has a PEG ratio of 0.96. 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. MA currently has a PEG ratio of 2.26.

Another notable valuation metric for CPAY is its P/B ratio of 4.92. 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, MA has a P/B of 63.64.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to CPAY's Value grade of B and MA's Value grade of D.

CPAY stands above MA thanks to its solid earnings outlook, and based on these valuation figures, we also feel that CPAY is the superior value option right now.


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