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OFC vs. CCI: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

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Investors interested in REIT and Equity Trust - Other stocks are likely familiar with Corporate Office Properties and Crown Castle (CCI - Free Report) . But which of these two companies is the best option for those looking for undervalued stocks? Let's 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.

Currently, Corporate Office Properties has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Crown Castle has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). Investors should feel comfortable knowing that OFC likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than CCI has recently. 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.

OFC currently has a forward P/E ratio of 12.48, while CCI has a forward P/E of 26.13. We also note that OFC has a PEG ratio of 2.44. 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. CCI currently has a PEG ratio of 2.61.

Another notable valuation metric for OFC is its P/B ratio of 1.91. 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, CCI has a P/B of 9.13.

These metrics, and several others, help OFC earn a Value grade of B, while CCI has been given a Value grade of C.

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


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