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HTHIY vs. HON: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

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Investors looking for stocks in the Diversified Operations sector might want to consider either Hitachi Ltd. (HTHIY - Free Report) or Honeywell International Inc. (HON - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? Let's 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 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, Hitachi Ltd. is sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Honeywell International Inc. has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). This means that HTHIY's earnings estimate revision activity has been more impressive, so investors should feel comfortable with its improving analyst outlook. However, value investors will care about much more than just this.

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.

HTHIY currently has a forward P/E ratio of 15.29, while HON has a forward P/E of 19.93. We also note that HTHIY has a PEG ratio of 2.09. This figure is similar to the commonly-used P/E ratio, with the PEG ratio also factoring in a company's expected earnings growth rate. HON currently has a PEG ratio of 2.35.

Another notable valuation metric for HTHIY is its P/B ratio of 1.34. 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, HON has a P/B of 6.76.

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

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


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