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ASRT or COLL: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors interested in stocks from the Medical - Drugs sector have probably already heard of Assertio (ASRT - Free Report) and Collegium Pharmaceutical (COLL - Free Report) . 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.

There are plenty of strategies for discovering value stocks, but we have found that pairing a strong Zacks Rank with an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system produces the best returns. The Zacks Rank favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.

Assertio and Collegium Pharmaceutical are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (Buy) and #4 (Sell), respectively, right now. This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that ASRT 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 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.

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.

ASRT currently has a forward P/E ratio of 6, while COLL has a forward P/E of 38.23. We also note that ASRT has a PEG ratio of 0.30. 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. COLL currently has a PEG ratio of 1.91.

Another notable valuation metric for ASRT is its P/B ratio of 1.15. 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, COLL has a P/B of 6.52.

Based on these metrics and many more, ASRT holds a Value grade of B, while COLL has a Value grade of F.

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


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Collegium Pharmaceutical, Inc. (COLL) - free report >>

Assertio Holdings, Inc. (ASRT) - free report >>

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