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EVTC vs. MA: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

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Investors looking for stocks in the Financial Transaction Services sector might want to consider either Evertec (EVTC - Free Report) or MasterCard (MA - 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.

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 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.

Evertec has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while MasterCard 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 EVTC has an improving earnings outlook. However, value investors will care about much more than just this.

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.

EVTC currently has a forward P/E ratio of 7.50, while MA has a forward P/E of 29.98. We also note that EVTC has a PEG ratio of 0.75. 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. MA currently has a PEG ratio of 1.79.

Another notable valuation metric for EVTC is its P/B ratio of 2.78. 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, MA has a P/B of 93.02.

Based on these metrics and many more, EVTC holds a Value grade of A, while MA has a Value grade of D.

EVTC 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 EVTC is likely the superior value option right now.

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