Yahoo Finance JMPLY vs. AIQUY: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?
Investors interested in stocks from the Chemical - Diversified sector have probably already heard of Johnson Matthey PLC (JMPLY) and Air Liquide (AIQUY). 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.
Right now, Johnson Matthey PLC is sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Air Liquide has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that JMPLY has an improving earnings outlook. However, value investors will care about much more than just this.
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.
Our Value category highlights undervalued companies by looking at a variety of key metrics, including the popular P/E ratio, as well as the P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a variety of other fundamentals that have been used by value investors for years.
JMPLY currently has a forward P/E ratio of 17.73, while AIQUY has a forward P/E of 26.18. We also note that JMPLY has a PEG ratio of 4.43. 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. AIQUY currently has a PEG ratio of 4.86.
Another notable valuation metric for JMPLY is its P/B ratio of 2.31. 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, AIQUY has a P/B of 3.53.
These are just a few of the metrics contributing to JMPLY's Value grade of B and AIQUY's Value grade of C.
JMPLY has seen stronger estimate revision activity and sports more attractive valuation metrics than AIQUY, so it seems like value investors will conclude that JMPLY is the superior option right now.
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