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FERG vs. GGG: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

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Investors interested in stocks from the Manufacturing - General Industrial sector have probably already heard of Wolseley PLC (FERG - Free Report) and Graco Inc. (GGG - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? Let's 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 proven Zacks Rank puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

Wolseley PLC has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Graco Inc. has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now. Investors should feel comfortable knowing that FERG likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than GGG has recently. 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.

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.

FERG currently has a forward P/E ratio of 20.29, while GGG has a forward P/E of 32.73. We also note that FERG has a PEG ratio of 1.96. This figure is similar to the commonly-used P/E ratio, with the PEG ratio also factoring in a company's expected earnings growth rate. GGG currently has a PEG ratio of 4.09.

Another notable valuation metric for FERG is its P/B ratio of 8.21. 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, GGG has a P/B of 8.57.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to FERG's Value grade of B and GGG's Value grade of D.

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


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