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RE vs. ALL: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

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Investors interested in stocks from the Insurance - Property and Casualty sector have probably already heard of Everest Re and Allstate (ALL - 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.

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 emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.

Currently, Everest Re has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), while Allstate has a Zacks Rank of #5 (Strong Sell). The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that RE has an improving earnings outlook. But this is just one piece of the puzzle for value investors.

Value investors also tend to look at a number of traditional, tried-and-true figures to help them find stocks that they believe are undervalued at their 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.

RE currently has a forward P/E ratio of 7.86, while ALL has a forward P/E of 16.74. We also note that RE has a PEG ratio of 0.25. 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. ALL currently has a PEG ratio of 2.39.

Another notable valuation metric for RE is its P/B ratio of 1.66. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. For comparison, ALL has a P/B of 1.97.

Based on these metrics and many more, RE holds a Value grade of B, while ALL has a Value grade of C.

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


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