Back to top

Image: Bigstock

GM or FSS: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

Read MoreHide Full Article

Investors interested in stocks from the Automotive - Domestic sector have probably already heard of General Motors (GM - Free Report) and Federal Signal (FSS - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? Let's take a closer look.

The best way to find great value stocks is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system. The Zacks Rank favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.

Currently, both General Motors and Federal Signal are holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy). 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 piece of the puzzle 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.

GM currently has a forward P/E ratio of 6.02, while FSS has a forward P/E of 25.64. We also note that GM has a PEG ratio of 0.39. This figure is similar to the commonly-used P/E ratio, with the PEG ratio also factoring in a company's expected earnings growth rate. FSS currently has a PEG ratio of 1.83.

Another notable valuation metric for GM is its P/B ratio of 1.08. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. For comparison, FSS has a P/B of 5.39.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to GM's Value grade of A and FSS's Value grade of C.

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

Published in