MUFG vs. NABZY: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

Investors with an interest in Banks - Foreign stocks have likely encountered both Mitsubishi UFJ (MUFG) and National Australia Bank Ltd. (NABZY). 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 Zacks Rank is a proven strategy that targets companies with positive earnings estimate revision trends, while our Style Scores work to grade companies based on specific traits.

Mitsubishi UFJ and National Australia Bank Ltd. are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (Buy) and #3 (Hold), respectively, right now. This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that MUFG is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. However, value investors will care about much more than just this.

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.

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.

MUFG currently has a forward P/E ratio of 7.69, while NABZY has a forward P/E of 12.31. We also note that MUFG has a PEG ratio of 0.55. 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. NABZY currently has a PEG ratio of 1.02.

Another notable valuation metric for MUFG is its P/B ratio of 0.43. The P/B is a method of comparing a stock's market value to its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. By comparison, NABZY has a P/B of 1.34.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to MUFG's Value grade of B and NABZY's Value grade of D.

MUFG has seen stronger estimate revision activity and sports more attractive valuation metrics than NABZY, so it seems like value investors will conclude that MUFG is the superior option right now.

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