BERY vs. ATR: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

Investors interested in Containers – Paper and Packaging stocks are likely familiar with Berry Global (BERY) and AptarGroup (ATR). But which of these two stocks is more attractive to value investors? We’ll need to take a closer look to find out.

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 favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.

Currently, Berry Global has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), while AptarGroup has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell). The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that BERY has an improving earnings outlook. But this is only part of the picture for value investors.

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.

The Style Score Value grade factors in a variety of key fundamental metrics, including the popular P/E ratio, P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a number of other key stats that are commonly used by value investors.

BERY currently has a forward P/E ratio of 11.64, while ATR has a forward P/E of 29.30. We also note that BERY has a PEG ratio of 0.93. 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. ATR currently has a PEG ratio of 2.84.

Another notable valuation metric for BERY is its P/B ratio of 3.87. 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, ATR has a P/B of 4.75.

Based on these metrics and many more, BERY holds a Value grade of A, while ATR has a Value grade of D.

BERY sticks out from ATR in both our Zacks Rank and Style Scores models, so value investors will likely feel that BERY is the better option right now.

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