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DG or ROST: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors interested in Retail - Discount Stores stocks are likely familiar with Dollar General (DG - Free Report) and Ross Stores (ROST - 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 proven Zacks Rank emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.

Right now, Dollar General is sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Ross Stores has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that DG has an improving earnings outlook. But this is only part of the picture for value investors.

Value investors are also interested in a number of tried-and-true valuation metrics that help show when 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.

DG currently has a forward P/E ratio of 17.21, while ROST has a forward P/E of 27.02. We also note that DG has a PEG ratio of 1.76. 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. ROST currently has a PEG ratio of 1.96.

Another notable valuation metric for DG is its P/B ratio of 3.25. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. For comparison, ROST has a P/B of 11.23.

Based on these metrics and many more, DG holds a Value grade of B, while ROST has a Value grade of D.

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

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