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PPC vs. HRL: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

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Investors interested in Food - Meat Products stocks are likely familiar with Pilgrim's Pride (PPC - Free Report) and Hormel Foods (HRL - 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 proven Zacks Rank emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.

Right now, Pilgrim's Pride is sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Hormel Foods has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that PPC has an improving earnings outlook. But this is only part of the picture for value investors.

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.

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.

PPC currently has a forward P/E ratio of 8.75, while HRL has a forward P/E of 26.10. We also note that PPC has a PEG ratio of 0.96. 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. HRL currently has a PEG ratio of 3.28.

Another notable valuation metric for PPC is its P/B ratio of 2.25. The P/B ratio is used to compare a stock's market value with its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. For comparison, HRL has a P/B of 3.87.

These metrics, and several others, help PPC earn a Value grade of A, while HRL has been given a Value grade of C.

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


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