Back to top

Image: Bigstock

UFS vs. NP: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

Read MoreHide Full Article

Investors with an interest in Paper and Related Products stocks have likely encountered both Domtar and Neenah Paper . 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.

We have found that the best way to discover great value opportunities is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with a great grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system. The Zacks Rank favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.

Domtar has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Neenah Paper has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell) right now. The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that UFS has an improving earnings outlook. 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.

UFS currently has a forward P/E ratio of 9.50, while NP has a forward P/E of 18.76. We also note that UFS has a PEG ratio of 1.90. 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. NP currently has a PEG ratio of 3.75.

Another notable valuation metric for UFS is its P/B ratio of 1.30. 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, NP has a P/B of 3.05.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to UFS's Value grade of A and NP's Value grade of D.

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

Published in