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QGEN or ILMN: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors interested in stocks from the Medical - Biomedical and Genetics sector have probably already heard of Qiagen (QGEN - Free Report) and Illumina (ILMN - 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.

We have found that the best way to discover great value opportunities is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with a great grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system. The Zacks Rank favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.

Qiagen has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Illumina has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell) right now. The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that QGEN has an improving earnings outlook. 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.

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.

QGEN currently has a forward P/E ratio of 22.02, while ILMN has a forward P/E of 77.89. We also note that QGEN has a PEG ratio of 1.92. 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. ILMN currently has a PEG ratio of 2.50.

Another notable valuation metric for QGEN is its P/B ratio of 3.32. 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, ILMN has a P/B of 4.70.

Based on these metrics and many more, QGEN holds a Value grade of B, while ILMN has a Value grade of D.

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


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