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SSUMY vs. ITT: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

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Investors interested in stocks from the Diversified Operations sector have probably already heard of Sumitomo Corp. (SSUMY - Free Report) and ITT (ITT - 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 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.

Sumitomo Corp. and ITT are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (Buy) and #3 (Hold), respectively, right now. The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that SSUMY has an improving earnings outlook. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

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.

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.

SSUMY currently has a forward P/E ratio of 7.25, while ITT has a forward P/E of 18.11. We also note that SSUMY has a PEG ratio of 0.16. 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. ITT currently has a PEG ratio of 1.43.

Another notable valuation metric for SSUMY is its P/B ratio of 0.82. The P/B ratio is used to compare a stock's market value with its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. For comparison, ITT has a P/B of 3.23.

These metrics, and several others, help SSUMY earn a Value grade of A, while ITT has been given a Value grade of C.

SSUMY has seen stronger estimate revision activity and sports more attractive valuation metrics than ITT, so it seems like value investors will conclude that SSUMY is the superior option right now.


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