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ARI or LADR: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors interested in REIT and Equity Trust stocks are likely familiar with Apollo Commerical Finance (ARI - Free Report) and Ladder Capital (LADR - 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.

Apollo Commerical Finance and Ladder Capital are both sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) right now. This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that these stocks have improving earnings outlooks. 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.

The Style Score Value grade factors in a variety of key fundamental metrics, including the popular P/E ratio, P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a number of other key stats that are commonly used by value investors.

ARI currently has a forward P/E ratio of 9.59, while LADR has a forward P/E of 12.23. We also note that ARI has a PEG ratio of 0.27. This popular figure is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also considers a company's expected EPS growth rate. LADR currently has a PEG ratio of 7.50.

Another notable valuation metric for ARI is its P/B ratio of 0.76. 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, LADR has a P/B of 0.97.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to ARI's Value grade of B and LADR's Value grade of C.

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


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