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ARCB vs. JBHT: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

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Investors interested in Transportation - Truck stocks are likely familiar with ArcBest (ARCB - Free Report) and JB Hunt (JBHT - 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 proven Zacks Rank emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.

Currently, ArcBest has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), while JB Hunt has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy). Investors should feel comfortable knowing that ARCB likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than JBHT has recently. But this is only part of the picture for value investors.

Value investors also try to analyze a wide range of traditional figures and metrics to help determine whether 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.

ARCB currently has a forward P/E ratio of 24.72, while JBHT has a forward P/E of 37.03. We also note that ARCB has a PEG ratio of 0.66. 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. JBHT currently has a PEG ratio of 2.00.

Another notable valuation metric for ARCB is its P/B ratio of 2.51. 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, JBHT has a P/B of 7.06.

These metrics, and several others, help ARCB earn a Value grade of B, while JBHT has been given a Value grade of D.

ARCB stands above JBHT thanks to its solid earnings outlook, and based on these valuation figures, we also feel that ARCB is the superior value option right now.

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