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CROX or RL: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors with an interest in Textile - Apparel stocks have likely encountered both Crocs (CROX - Free Report) and Ralph Lauren (RL - 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 puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

Currently, Crocs has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Ralph Lauren has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that CROX is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

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 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.

CROX currently has a forward P/E ratio of 9.09, while RL has a forward P/E of 19.74. We also note that CROX has a PEG ratio of 1.06. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. RL currently has a PEG ratio of 1.39.

Another notable valuation metric for CROX is its P/B ratio of 4.36. 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, RL has a P/B of 8.12.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to CROX's Value grade of B and RL's Value grade of C.

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

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