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BLMN vs. CAVA: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

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Investors interested in stocks from the Retail - Restaurants sector have probably already heard of Bloomin' Brands (BLMN - Free Report) and Cava Group (CAVA - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks offers value investors a better bang for their buck right now? We'll need to 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.

Currently, Bloomin' Brands has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), while Cava Group has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). This means that BLMN's earnings estimate revision activity has been more impressive, so investors should feel comfortable with its improving analyst outlook. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

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.

BLMN currently has a forward P/E ratio of 9.73, while CAVA has a forward P/E of 94.23. We also note that BLMN has a PEG ratio of 2.45. 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. CAVA currently has a PEG ratio of 4.00.

Another notable valuation metric for BLMN is its P/B ratio of 1.84. 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, CAVA has a P/B of 7.14.

These metrics, and several others, help BLMN earn a Value grade of A, while CAVA has been given a Value grade of F.

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

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