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ASRT or ZTS: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors looking for stocks in the Medical - Drugs sector might want to consider either Assertio (ASRT - Free Report) or Zoetis (ZTS - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks offers value investors a better bang for their buck right now? We'll need to 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.

Currently, Assertio has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Zoetis has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). Investors should feel comfortable knowing that ASRT likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than ZTS has recently. But this is just one piece of the puzzle for value investors.

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.

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.

ASRT currently has a forward P/E ratio of 6.61, while ZTS has a forward P/E of 31.49. We also note that ASRT has a PEG ratio of 0.66. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. ZTS currently has a PEG ratio of 2.91.

Another notable valuation metric for ASRT is its P/B ratio of 1.32. 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, ZTS has a P/B of 15.36.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to ASRT's Value grade of A and ZTS's Value grade of C.

ASRT stands above ZTS thanks to its solid earnings outlook, and based on these valuation figures, we also feel that ASRT is the superior value option right now.


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