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

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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 is more attractive to value investors? We'll need to take a closer look to find out.

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.

General Motors and Federal Signal are both sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) right now. This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that these stocks have improving earnings outlooks. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

Value investors also tend to look at a number of traditional, tried-and-true figures to help them find stocks 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.

GM currently has a forward P/E ratio of 6.58, while FSS has a forward P/E of 23.94. We also note that GM has a PEG ratio of 0.40. 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 1.71.

Another notable valuation metric for GM is its P/B ratio of 1.2. 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, FSS has a P/B of 5.03.

Based on these metrics and many more, GM holds a Value grade of A, while FSS has a 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.

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