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MARUY vs. ITT: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

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Investors interested in Diversified Operations stocks are likely familiar with Marubeni Corp. (MARUY - Free Report) and ITT (ITT - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? Let's take a closer look.

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

Currently, Marubeni Corp. has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), while ITT 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 MARUY 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 grades stocks based on a number of key metrics, including the tried-and-true P/E ratio, the P/S ratio, earnings yield, and cash flow per share, as well as a variety of other fundamentals that value investors frequently use.

MARUY currently has a forward P/E ratio of 4.79, while ITT has a forward P/E of 24.19. We also note that MARUY has a PEG ratio of 0.41. 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. ITT currently has a PEG ratio of 1.57.

Another notable valuation metric for MARUY is its P/B ratio of 0.80. 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, ITT has a P/B of 3.92.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to MARUY's Value grade of A and ITT's Value grade of C.

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


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