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SP vs. CRCM: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

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Investors interested in stocks from the Conusmer Services - Miscellaneous sector have probably already heard of SP Plus (SP - Free Report) and Care.com . 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.

Everyone has their own methods for finding great value opportunities, but our model includes pairing an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system with a strong Zacks Rank. 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.

SP Plus and Care.com are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (Buy) and #3 (Hold) respectively, right now. This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that SP is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve. 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.

Our Value category grades stocks based on a number of key metrics, including the popular P/E ratio, as well as the P/S ratio, earnings yield, and cash flow per share, as well as a variety of other fundamentals that value investors frequently use.

SP currently has a forward P/E ratio of 16.52, while CRCM has a forward P/E of 31.97. We also note that SP has a PEG ratio of 1.84. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. CRCM currently has a PEG ratio of 2.13.

Another notable valuation metric for SP is its P/B ratio of 2.57. The P/B ratio is used to compare a stock's market value with its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. For comparison, CRCM has a P/B of 6.90.

These metrics, and several others, help SP earn a Value grade of B, while CRCM has been given a Value grade of D.

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


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