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ZION vs. BOH: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

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Investors looking for stocks in the Banks - West sector might want to consider either Zions (ZION - Free Report) or Bank of Hawaii (BOH - Free Report) . But which of these two companies is the best option for those looking for undervalued stocks? Let's 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.

Zions has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Bank of Hawaii has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now. The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that ZION has an improving earnings outlook. However, value investors will care about much more than just this.

Value investors also tend to look at a number of traditional, tried-and-true figures to help them find stocks 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.

ZION currently has a forward P/E ratio of 12.36, while BOH has a forward P/E of 15.09. We also note that ZION has a PEG ratio of 1.45. This popular figure is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also considers a company's expected EPS growth rate. BOH currently has a PEG ratio of 2.01.

Another notable valuation metric for ZION is its P/B ratio of 1.40. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. For comparison, BOH has a P/B of 2.65.

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

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


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Zions Bancorporation, N.A. (ZION) - free report >>

Bank of Hawaii Corporation (BOH) - free report >>

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