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IMKTA or WMT: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors looking for stocks in the Retail - Supermarkets sector might want to consider either Ingles (IMKTA - Free Report) or Walmart (WMT - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks is more attractive to value investors? We'll need to take a closer look to find out.

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.

Ingles and Walmart are sporting Zacks Ranks of #1 (Strong Buy) and #2 (Buy), respectively, right now. The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that IMKTA 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.

IMKTA currently has a forward P/E ratio of 8.61, while WMT has a forward P/E of 21.74. We also note that IMKTA has a PEG ratio of 0.59. 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. WMT currently has a PEG ratio of 4.60.

Another notable valuation metric for IMKTA is its P/B ratio of 1.09. 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, WMT has a P/B of 4.03.

These metrics, and several others, help IMKTA earn a Value grade of A, while WMT has been given a Value grade of C.

IMKTA is currently sporting an improving earnings outlook, which makes it stick out in our Zacks Rank model. And, based on the above valuation metrics, we feel that IMKTA is likely the superior value option right now.


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