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ADRNY vs. CLX: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

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Investors looking for stocks in the Consumer Products - Staples sector might want to consider either Ahold NV (ADRNY - Free Report) or Clorox (CLX - 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, Ahold NV has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Clorox has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). This means that ADRNY's earnings estimate revision activity has been more impressive, so investors should feel comfortable with its improving analyst outlook. But this is just one piece of the puzzle for value investors.

Value investors analyze a variety of traditional, tried-and-true metrics to help find companies that they believe are undervalued at their 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.

ADRNY currently has a forward P/E ratio of 11.70, while CLX has a forward P/E of 14.87. We also note that ADRNY has a PEG ratio of 1.78. 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. CLX currently has a PEG ratio of 2.70.

Another notable valuation metric for ADRNY is its P/B ratio of 1.93. Investors use the P/B ratio to look at a stock's market value versus its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. By comparison, CLX has a P/B of 40.72.

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

ADRNY sticks out from CLX in both our Zacks Rank and Style Scores models, so value investors will likely feel that ADRNY is the better option right now.

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