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FUTU vs. MCO: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

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Investors looking for stocks in the Financial - Miscellaneous Services sector might want to consider either Futu Holdings Limited Sponsored ADR (FUTU - Free Report) or Moody's (MCO - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks offers value investors a better bang for their buck right now? We'll need to 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 proven Zacks Rank emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.

Currently, Futu Holdings Limited Sponsored ADR has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), while Moody's has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). Investors should feel comfortable knowing that FUTU likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than MCO has recently. However, value investors will care about much more than just this.

Value investors are also interested in a number of tried-and-true valuation metrics that help show when a company is undervalued at its 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.

FUTU currently has a forward P/E ratio of 13.97, while MCO has a forward P/E of 27.30. We also note that FUTU has a PEG ratio of 0.96. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. MCO currently has a PEG ratio of 2.41.

Another notable valuation metric for FUTU is its P/B ratio of 4.48. The P/B is a method of comparing a stock's market value to its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. By comparison, MCO has a P/B of 19.32.

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

FUTU sticks out from MCO in both our Zacks Rank and Style Scores models, so value investors will likely feel that FUTU is the better option right now.

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