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GPN vs. KLAR: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

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Investors looking for stocks in the Financial Transaction Services sector might want to consider either Global Payments (GPN - Free Report) or Klarna (KLAR - 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.

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 proven Zacks Rank emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.

Currently, Global Payments has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), while Klarna has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell). The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that GPN has an improving earnings outlook. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

Value investors analyze a variety of traditional, tried-and-true metrics to help find companies that they believe are undervalued at their 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.

GPN currently has a forward P/E ratio of 4.64, while KLAR has a forward P/E of 263.93. We also note that GPN has a PEG ratio of 0.34. 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. KLAR currently has a PEG ratio of 4.95.

Another notable valuation metric for GPN is its P/B ratio of 0.64. 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, KLAR has a P/B of 1.88.

Based on these metrics and many more, GPN holds a Value grade of A, while KLAR has a Value grade of D.

GPN is currently sporting an improving earnings outlook, which makes it stick out in our Zacks Rank model. And, based on the above valuation metrics, we feel that GPN is likely the superior value option right now.

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