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INT vs. VLO: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

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Investors with an interest in Oil and Gas - Refining and Marketing stocks have likely encountered both World Fuel Services and Valero Energy (VLO - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks is more attractive to value investors? We'll need to take a closer look to find out.

Everyone has their own methods for finding great value opportunities, but our model includes pairing an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system with a strong Zacks Rank. 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, both World Fuel Services and Valero Energy are holding a Zacks Rank of # 2 (Buy). The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that both of these companies have improving earnings outlooks. However, value investors will care about much more than just this.

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.

INT currently has a forward P/E ratio of 15.98, while VLO has a forward P/E of 173.92. We also note that INT has a PEG ratio of 3.20. 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. VLO currently has a PEG ratio of 21.74.

Another notable valuation metric for INT is its P/B ratio of 1.15. The P/B ratio is used to compare a stock's market value with its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. For comparison, VLO has a P/B of 1.36.

These metrics, and several others, help INT earn a Value grade of A, while VLO has been given a Value grade of C.

Both INT and VLO are impressive stocks with solid earnings outlooks, but based on these valuation figures, we feel that INT is the superior value option right now.


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