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ZIXI vs. PFPT: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

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Investors with an interest in Security stocks have likely encountered both Zix and Proofpoint . 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.

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 favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.

Zix has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), while Proofpoint has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now. This means that ZIXI's earnings estimate revision activity has been more impressive, so investors should feel comfortable with its improving analyst outlook. But this is just one piece of the puzzle for value investors.

Value investors are also interested in a number of tried-and-true valuation metrics that help show when a company is undervalued at its current share price levels.

The Value category of the Style Scores system identifies undervalued companies by looking at a number of key metrics. These include the long-favored P/E ratio, P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a variety of other fundamentals that help us determine a company's fair value.

ZIXI currently has a forward P/E ratio of 10.02, while PFPT has a forward P/E of 86.05. We also note that ZIXI has a PEG ratio of 0.67. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. PFPT currently has a PEG ratio of 3.50.

Another notable valuation metric for ZIXI is its P/B ratio of 7.26. Investors use the P/B ratio to look at a stock's market value versus its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. By comparison, PFPT has a P/B of 11.53.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to ZIXI's Value grade of A and PFPT's Value grade of F.

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

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