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UTX vs. RAVN: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

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Investors interested in stocks from the Diversified Operations sector have probably already heard of United Technologies and Raven Industries . But which of these two stocks is more attractive to value investors? We'll need to take a closer look to find out.

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 proven Zacks Rank puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

Currently, United Technologies has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Raven Industries has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that UTX is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. But this is only part of the picture 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.

UTX currently has a forward P/E ratio of 17.99, while RAVN has a forward P/E of 28.44. We also note that UTX has a PEG ratio of 1.97. 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. RAVN currently has a PEG ratio of 2.84.

Another notable valuation metric for UTX is its P/B ratio of 3.12. 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, RAVN has a P/B of 5.37.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to UTX's Value grade of B and RAVN's Value grade of D.

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

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