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WOOF vs. ULTA: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

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Investors with an interest in Retail - Miscellaneous stocks have likely encountered both Petco Health & Wellness (WOOF - Free Report) and Ulta Beauty (ULTA - Free Report) . But which of these two companies is the best option for those looking for undervalued stocks? 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.

Petco Health & Wellness and Ulta Beauty are sporting Zacks Ranks of #1 (Strong Buy) and #3 (Hold), respectively, right now. The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that WOOF has an improving earnings outlook. But this is only part of the picture 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.

WOOF currently has a forward P/E ratio of 9.96, while ULTA has a forward P/E of 19.14. We also note that WOOF has a PEG ratio of 0.90. 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. ULTA currently has a PEG ratio of 1.66.

Another notable valuation metric for WOOF is its P/B ratio of 0.64. 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, ULTA has a P/B of 8.96.

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

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

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