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FERG or GGG: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors with an interest in Manufacturing - General Industrial stocks have likely encountered both 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.

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 Zacks Rank favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies 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 only part of the picture for value investors.

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 grades stocks based on a number of key metrics, including the tried-and-true P/E ratio, the P/S ratio, earnings yield, and cash flow per share, as well as a variety of other fundamentals that value investors frequently use.

FERG currently has a forward P/E ratio of 13.34, while GGG has a forward P/E of 23.73. We also note that FERG has a PEG ratio of 0.97. 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. GGG currently has a PEG ratio of 2.97.

Another notable valuation metric for FERG is its P/B ratio of 5.49. The P/B is a method of comparing a stock's market value to its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. By comparison, GGG has a P/B of 6.28.

These metrics, and several others, help FERG earn a Value grade of B, while GGG has been given a Value grade of D.

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


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