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PH or IEX: 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 Parker-Hannifin (PH - Free Report) and Idex (IEX - 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.

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.

Right now, Parker-Hannifin is sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Idex has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that PH is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. But this is just one piece of the puzzle 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 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.

PH currently has a forward P/E ratio of 16.09, while IEX has a forward P/E of 24.67. We also note that PH has a PEG ratio of 1.37. 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. IEX currently has a PEG ratio of 2.06.

Another notable valuation metric for PH is its P/B ratio of 4.36. 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, IEX has a P/B of 5.34.

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

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


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