Investors interested in stocks from the Financial Transaction Services sector have probably already heard of Evertec (EVTC) and MasterCard (MA). 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 puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.
Currently, Evertec has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while MasterCard has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). Investors should feel comfortable knowing that EVTC likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than MA 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.
EVTC currently has a forward P/E ratio of 7.42, while MA has a forward P/E of 28.32. We also note that EVTC has a PEG ratio of 0.84. 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. MA currently has a PEG ratio of 1.69.
Another notable valuation metric for EVTC is its P/B ratio of 2.73. 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, MA has a P/B of 87.73.
These are just a few of the metrics contributing to EVTC's Value grade of A and MA's Value grade of D.
EVTC stands above MA thanks to its solid earnings outlook, and based on these valuation figures, we also feel that EVTC is the superior value option right now.
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