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LMT vs. GE: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

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Investors interested in Aerospace - Defense stocks are likely familiar with Lockheed Martin (LMT - Free Report) and GE Aerospace (GE - 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.

Everyone has their own methods for finding great value opportunities, but our model includes pairing an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system with a strong Zacks Rank. 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.

Lockheed Martin and GE Aerospace are both sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) right now. The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that both of these companies have improving earnings outlooks. But this is just one piece of the puzzle for value investors.

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 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.

LMT currently has a forward P/E ratio of 20.79, while GE has a forward P/E of 35.64. We also note that LMT has a PEG ratio of 1.36. 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. GE currently has a PEG ratio of 1.98.

Another notable valuation metric for LMT is its P/B ratio of 14.58. 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, GE has a P/B of 16.79.

These metrics, and several others, help LMT earn a Value grade of B, while GE has been given a Value grade of D.

Both LMT and GE are impressive stocks with solid earnings outlooks, but based on these valuation figures, we feel that LMT is the superior value option right now.

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