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STNE or SPOT: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors with an interest in Internet - Software stocks have likely encountered both StoneCo Ltd. (STNE - Free Report) and Spotify (SPOT - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? Let's take a closer look.

Everyone has their own methods for finding great value opportunities, but our model includes pairing an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system with a strong Zacks Rank. The Zacks Rank is a proven strategy that targets companies with positive earnings estimate revision trends, while our Style Scores work to grade companies based on specific traits.

Right now, StoneCo Ltd. is sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Spotify has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that STNE is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. But this is just one piece of the puzzle for value investors.

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.

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.

STNE currently has a forward P/E ratio of 4.87, while SPOT has a forward P/E of 32.78. We also note that STNE has a PEG ratio of 0.21. 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. SPOT currently has a PEG ratio of 1.18.

Another notable valuation metric for STNE is its P/B ratio of 1.2. 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, SPOT has a P/B of 10.59.

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

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

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