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BEN or BX: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors interested in Financial - Investment Management stocks are likely familiar with Franklin Resources (BEN - Free Report) and Blackstone Group (BX - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks offers value investors a better bang for their buck right now? We'll need to take a closer look.

The best way to find great value stocks is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with an impressive 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.

Right now, Franklin Resources is sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Blackstone Group has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that BEN has an improving earnings outlook. However, value investors will care about much more than just this.

Value investors also try to analyze a wide range of traditional figures and metrics to help determine whether a company is undervalued at its 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.

BEN currently has a forward P/E ratio of 10.04, while BX has a forward P/E of 23.68. We also note that BEN has a PEG ratio of 0.77. 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. BX currently has a PEG ratio of 1.62.

Another notable valuation metric for BEN is its P/B ratio of 1.35. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. For comparison, BX has a P/B of 3.48.

Based on these metrics and many more, BEN holds a Value grade of B, while BX has a Value grade of D.

BEN stands above BX thanks to its solid earnings outlook, and based on these valuation figures, we also feel that BEN is the superior value option right now.


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