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BAX vs. SYK: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

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Investors with an interest in Medical - Products stocks have likely encountered both Baxter International (BAX - Free Report) and Stryker (SYK - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks is more attractive to value investors? We'll need to take a closer look to find out.

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 proven Zacks Rank puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

Currently, Baxter International has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Stryker 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 BAX is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. However, value investors will care about much more than just this.

Value investors analyze a variety of traditional, tried-and-true metrics to help find companies that they believe are undervalued at their 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.

BAX currently has a forward P/E ratio of 20.22, while SYK has a forward P/E of 25.69. We also note that BAX has a PEG ratio of 2.13. 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. SYK currently has a PEG ratio of 2.82.

Another notable valuation metric for BAX is its P/B ratio of 4.85. 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, SYK has a P/B of 6.35.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to BAX's Value grade of B and SYK's Value grade of C.

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


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