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GMRS vs. CRL: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

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Investors interested in Medical Services stocks are likely familiar with GMR Solutions Inc. (GMRS - Free Report) and Charles River Laboratories (CRL - 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.

Right now, GMR Solutions Inc. is sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), while Charles River Laboratories has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). Investors should feel comfortable knowing that GMRS likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than CRL has recently. 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.

GMRS currently has a forward P/E ratio of 6.48, while CRL has a forward P/E of 30.05. We also note that GMRS has a PEG ratio of 0.16. 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. CRL currently has a PEG ratio of 3.11.

Another notable valuation metric for GMRS is its P/B ratio of 0.7. The P/B is a method of comparing a stock's market value to its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. By comparison, CRL has a P/B of 5.08.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to GMRS's Value grade of A and CRL's Value grade of C.

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

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