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XRAY vs. COO: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

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Investors with an interest in Medical - Dental Supplies stocks have likely encountered both Dentsply International (XRAY - Free Report) and The Cooper Companies (COO - 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 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.

Both Dentsply International and The Cooper Companies have 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 factor that value investors are interested in.

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.

XRAY currently has a forward P/E ratio of 21.52, while COO has a forward P/E of 29.94. We also note that XRAY has a PEG ratio of 2.43. 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. COO currently has a PEG ratio of 2.72.

Another notable valuation metric for XRAY is its P/B ratio of 2.40. 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, COO has a P/B of 2.57.

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

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


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DENTSPLY SIRONA Inc. (XRAY) - free report >>

The Cooper Companies, Inc. (COO) - free report >>

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