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BJ or CL: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors looking for stocks in the Consumer Products - Staples sector might want to consider either BJ's Wholesale Club (BJ - Free Report) or Colgate-Palmolive (CL - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? Let's take a closer look.

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.

BJ's Wholesale Club has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Colgate-Palmolive has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now. This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that BJ 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 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.

BJ currently has a forward P/E ratio of 23.54, while CL has a forward P/E of 25.02. We also note that BJ has a PEG ratio of 3.25. This figure is similar to the commonly-used P/E ratio, with the PEG ratio also factoring in a company's expected earnings growth rate. CL currently has a PEG ratio of 4.44.

Another notable valuation metric for BJ is its P/B ratio of 6.36. 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, CL has a P/B of 121.72.

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

BJ has seen stronger estimate revision activity and sports more attractive valuation metrics than CL, so it seems like value investors will conclude that BJ is the superior option right now.

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