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IART vs. MASI: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

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Investors interested in Medical - Instruments stocks are likely familiar with Integra LifeSciences (IART - Free Report) and Masimo (MASI - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? 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 favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.

Integra LifeSciences and Masimo are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (Buy) and #3 (Hold), respectively, right now. This means that IART's earnings estimate revision activity has been more impressive, so investors should feel comfortable with its improving analyst 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.

IART currently has a forward P/E ratio of 6.48, while MASI has a forward P/E of 30.99. We also note that IART has a PEG ratio of 1.10. 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. MASI currently has a PEG ratio of 1.81.

Another notable valuation metric for IART is its P/B ratio of 1.17. The P/B ratio is used to compare a stock's market value with its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. For comparison, MASI has a P/B of 11.86.

Based on these metrics and many more, IART holds a Value grade of B, while MASI has a Value grade of D.

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

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