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ABEV or DEO: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors with an interest in Beverages - Alcohol stocks have likely encountered both Ambev (ABEV - Free Report) and Diageo (DEO - 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 is a proven strategy that targets companies with positive earnings estimate revision trends, while our Style Scores work to grade companies based on specific traits.

Currently, Ambev has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Diageo 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 ABEV 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.

ABEV currently has a forward P/E ratio of 19.68, while DEO has a forward P/E of 23.44. We also note that ABEV has a PEG ratio of 2.16. 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. DEO currently has a PEG ratio of 2.47.

Another notable valuation metric for ABEV is its P/B ratio of 2.75. 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, DEO has a P/B of 9.20.

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

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


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