Investors looking for stocks in the Banks - Northeast sector might want to consider either Peapack-Gladstone (PGC Quick QuotePGC - Free Report) or Atlantic Capital Bancshares . 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.

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.

Peapack-Gladstone and Atlantic Capital Bancshares are both sporting a Zacks Rank of # 2 (Buy) right now. This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that these stocks have improving earnings outlooks. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

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.

PGC currently has a forward P/E ratio of 14.91, while ACBI has a forward P/E of 15.45. We also note that PGC has a PEG ratio of 0.94. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. ACBI currently has a PEG ratio of 1.08.

Another notable valuation metric for PGC is its P/B ratio of 1.15. 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, ACBI has a P/B of 1.51.

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

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