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ALL or WRB: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors looking for stocks in the Insurance - Property and Casualty sector might want to consider either Allstate (ALL - Free Report) or W.R. Berkley (WRB - 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.

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.

Allstate has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while W.R. Berkley has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now. Investors should feel comfortable knowing that ALL likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than WRB has recently. 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 grades stocks based on a number of key metrics, including the tried-and-true P/E ratio, the P/S ratio, earnings yield, and cash flow per share, as well as a variety of other fundamentals that value investors frequently use.

ALL currently has a forward P/E ratio of 8.34, while WRB has a forward P/E of 15.46. We also note that ALL has a PEG ratio of 0.44. 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. WRB currently has a PEG ratio of 3.41.

Another notable valuation metric for ALL is its P/B ratio of 2.21. 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, WRB has a P/B of 2.8.

Based on these metrics and many more, ALL holds a Value grade of A, while WRB has a Value grade of C.

ALL is currently sporting an improving earnings outlook, which makes it stick out in our Zacks Rank model. And, based on the above valuation metrics, we feel that ALL is likely the superior value option right now.

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