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ELV or PGNY: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors interested in stocks from the Medical Services sector have probably already heard of Elevance Health (ELV - Free Report) and Progyny (PGNY - 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.

There are plenty of strategies for discovering value stocks, but we have found that pairing a strong Zacks Rank with an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system produces the best returns. The proven Zacks Rank puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

Elevance Health and Progyny are both sporting a Zacks Rank of # 2 (Buy) right now. The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that both of these companies have improving earnings outlooks. But this is just one piece of the puzzle 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.

The Value category of the Style Scores system identifies undervalued companies by looking at a number of key metrics. These include the long-favored P/E ratio, P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a variety of other fundamentals that help us determine a company's fair value.

ELV currently has a forward P/E ratio of 17.40, while PGNY has a forward P/E of 191.45. We also note that ELV has a PEG ratio of 1.46. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. PGNY currently has a PEG ratio of 9.09.

Another notable valuation metric for ELV is its P/B ratio of 3.34. 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, PGNY has a P/B of 11.32.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to ELV's Value grade of A and PGNY's Value grade of D.

Both ELV and PGNY are impressive stocks with solid earnings outlooks, but based on these valuation figures, we feel that ELV is the superior value option right now.


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Progyny, Inc. (PGNY) - free report >>

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