Investors looking for stocks in the Transportation – Shipping sector might want to consider either Costamare (CMRE) or Kirby (KEX). But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? Let’s take a closer look.
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 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.
Costamare and Kirby are sporting Zacks Ranks of #1 (Strong Buy) and #4 (Sell), respectively, right now. The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that CMRE has an improving earnings outlook. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.
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 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.
CMRE currently has a forward P/E ratio of 8.19, while KEX has a forward P/E of 24.49. We also note that CMRE has a PEG ratio of 1.64. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company’s expected earnings growth rate. KEX currently has a PEG ratio of 2.30.
Another notable valuation metric for CMRE is its P/B ratio of 0.48. 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, KEX has a P/B of 1.31.
These are just a few of the metrics contributing to CMRE’s Value grade of A and KEX’s Value grade of D.
CMRE has seen stronger estimate revision activity and sports more attractive valuation metrics than KEX, so it seems like value investors will conclude that CMRE is the superior option right now.
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