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BAYRY vs. JNJ: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

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Investors interested in stocks from the Large Cap Pharmaceuticals sector have probably already heard of Bayer Aktiengesellschaft (BAYRY - Free Report) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ - 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.

We have found that the best way to discover great value opportunities is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with a great grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system. 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.

Currently, Bayer Aktiengesellschaft has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Johnson & Johnson has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell). This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that BAYRY is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. 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.

BAYRY currently has a forward P/E ratio of 11.80, while JNJ has a forward P/E of 24.86. We also note that BAYRY has a PEG ratio of 1.90. 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. JNJ currently has a PEG ratio of 2.73.

Another notable valuation metric for BAYRY is its P/B ratio of 1.73. 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, JNJ has a P/B of 8.16.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to BAYRY's Value grade of A and JNJ's Value grade of D.

BAYRY stands above JNJ thanks to its solid earnings outlook, and based on these valuation figures, we also feel that BAYRY is the superior value option right now.

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