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ASGN or PING: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors interested in Computers - IT Services stocks are likely familiar with ASGN Inc (ASGN - Free Report) and Ping Identity . 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 proven Zacks Rank puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

Currently, ASGN Inc has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Ping Identity has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). Investors should feel comfortable knowing that ASGN likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than PING has recently. However, value investors will care about much more than just this.

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.

Our Value category grades stocks based on a number of key metrics, including the tried-and-true P/E ratio, the P/S ratio, earnings yield, and cash flow per share, as well as a variety of other fundamentals that value investors frequently use.

ASGN currently has a forward P/E ratio of 16.85, while PING has a forward P/E of 130.04. We also note that ASGN has a PEG ratio of 3.03. 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. PING currently has a PEG ratio of 13.

Another notable valuation metric for ASGN is its P/B ratio of 2.44. 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, PING has a P/B of 3.41.

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

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


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