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SHG or ITUB: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors with an interest in Banks - Foreign stocks have likely encountered both Shinhan Financial (SHG - Free Report) and Banco Itau (ITUB - 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.

We have found that the best way to discover great value opportunities is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with a great 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.

Both Shinhan Financial and Banco Itau have a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) right now. This means that both companies have witnessed positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that both of these stocks have an improving earnings outlook. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

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.

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.

SHG currently has a forward P/E ratio of 8.53, while ITUB has a forward P/E of 10.67. We also note that SHG has a PEG ratio of 0.55. 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. ITUB currently has a PEG ratio of 1.02.

Another notable valuation metric for SHG is its P/B ratio of 0.78. 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, ITUB has a P/B of 2.68.

These metrics, and several others, help SHG earn a Value grade of B, while ITUB has been given a Value grade of C.

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

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