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ACGL or PGR: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors with an interest in Insurance - Property and Casualty stocks have likely encountered both Arch Capital Group (ACGL - Free Report) and Progressive (PGR - 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 proven Zacks Rank puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

Both Arch Capital Group and Progressive 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. 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.

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.

ACGL currently has a forward P/E ratio of 10.97, while PGR has a forward P/E of 29.77. We also note that ACGL has a PEG ratio of 1.10. 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. PGR currently has a PEG ratio of 1.20.

Another notable valuation metric for ACGL is its P/B ratio of 2.18. 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, PGR has a P/B of 5.49.

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

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


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The Progressive Corporation (PGR) - free report >>

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