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EBAY vs. AMZN: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

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Investors interested in stocks from the Internet - Commerce sector have probably already heard of eBay (EBAY - Free Report) and Amazon (AMZN - Free Report) . 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.

Currently, eBay has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Amazon has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that EBAY is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. But this is only part of the picture for value investors.

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.

EBAY currently has a forward P/E ratio of 15.38, while AMZN has a forward P/E of 72.89. We also note that EBAY has a PEG ratio of 1.16. 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. AMZN currently has a PEG ratio of 2.49.

Another notable valuation metric for EBAY is its P/B ratio of 13.26. 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, AMZN has a P/B of 19.78.

These metrics, and several others, help EBAY earn a Value grade of B, while AMZN has been given a Value grade of D.

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


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