Investors looking for stocks in the Industrial Services sector might want to consider either Ashtead Group PLC (ASHTY) or BOUYGUES SA (BOUYF). But which of these two stocks is more attractive to value investors? We’ll need to take a closer look to find out.
We have found that the best way to discover great value opportunities is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with a great grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system. The proven Zacks Rank emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.
Ashtead Group PLC and BOUYGUES SA are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (Buy) and #3 (Hold), respectively, right now. The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that ASHTY has an improving earnings outlook. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.
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 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.
ASHTY currently has a forward P/E ratio of 9.21, while BOUYF has a forward P/E of 10.78. We also note that ASHTY has a PEG ratio of 0.61. 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. BOUYF currently has a PEG ratio of 2.34.
Another notable valuation metric for ASHTY is its P/B ratio of 2.98. 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, BOUYF has a P/B of 5.23.
Based on these metrics and many more, ASHTY holds a Value grade of B, while BOUYF has a Value grade of C.
ASHTY has seen stronger estimate revision activity and sports more attractive valuation metrics than BOUYF, so it seems like value investors will conclude that ASHTY is the superior option right now.
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