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WASH or CBC: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors with an interest in Banks - Northeast stocks have likely encountered both Washington Trust Bancorp (WASH - Free Report) and Central Bancompany (CBC - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? Let's take a closer look.

The best way to find great value stocks is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system. The proven Zacks Rank puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

Washington Trust Bancorp and Central Bancompany are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (Buy) and #3 (Hold), respectively, right now. The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that WASH has an improving earnings outlook. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

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.

WASH currently has a forward P/E ratio of 11.59, while CBC has a forward P/E of 20.07. We also note that WASH has a PEG ratio of 0.82. 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. CBC currently has a PEG ratio of 2.30.

Another notable valuation metric for WASH is its P/B ratio of 1.4. 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, CBC has a P/B of 2.37.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to WASH's Value grade of B and CBC's Value grade of F.

WASH is currently sporting an improving earnings outlook, which makes it stick out in our Zacks Rank model. And, based on the above valuation metrics, we feel that WASH is likely the superior value option right now.

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