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BCBP or WAFD: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors interested in stocks from the Banks - Northeast sector have probably already heard of BCB Bancorp (BCBP - Free Report) and Washington Federal (WAFD - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? Let's 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 proven Zacks Rank emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.

Both BCB Bancorp and Washington Federal have a Zacks Rank of # 2 (Buy) right now. The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that both of these companies have improving earnings outlooks. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

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.

BCBP currently has a forward P/E ratio of 10.77, while WAFD has a forward P/E of 14.42. We also note that BCBP has a PEG ratio of 1.08. 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. WAFD currently has a PEG ratio of 2.06.

Another notable valuation metric for BCBP is its P/B ratio of 1.07. 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, WAFD has a P/B of 1.48.

Based on these metrics and many more, BCBP holds a Value grade of A, while WAFD has a Value grade of C.

Both BCBP and WAFD are impressive stocks with solid earnings outlooks, but based on these valuation figures, we feel that BCBP is the superior value option right now.


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WaFd, Inc. (WAFD) - free report >>

BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NJ) (BCBP) - free report >>

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