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OPCH or CHE: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors looking for stocks in the Medical - Outpatient and Home Healthcare sector might want to consider either Option Care (OPCH - Free Report) or Chemed (CHE - 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 Zacks Rank favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.

Option Care has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Chemed has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now. The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that OPCH has an improving earnings outlook. 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.

The Style Score Value grade factors in a variety of key fundamental metrics, including the popular P/E ratio, P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a number of other key stats that are commonly used by value investors.

OPCH currently has a forward P/E ratio of 12.67, while CHE has a forward P/E of 21.65. We also note that OPCH has a PEG ratio of 1.24. 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. CHE currently has a PEG ratio of 1.90.

Another notable valuation metric for OPCH is its P/B ratio of 2.81. 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, CHE has a P/B of 8.52.

These metrics, and several others, help OPCH earn a Value grade of A, while CHE has been given a Value grade of C.

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

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