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STRL or HWM: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors with an interest in Engineering - R and D Services stocks have likely encountered both Sterling Infrastructure (STRL - Free Report) and Howmet (HWM - 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 proven Zacks Rank emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.

Sterling Infrastructure has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Howmet has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now. This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that STRL is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. But this is only part of the picture for value investors.

Value investors analyze a variety of traditional, tried-and-true metrics to help find companies 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.

STRL currently has a forward P/E ratio of 15.63, while HWM has a forward P/E of 29.45. We also note that STRL has a PEG ratio of 0.78. 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. HWM currently has a PEG ratio of 1.38.

Another notable valuation metric for STRL is its P/B ratio of 3.44. 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, HWM has a P/B of 5.64.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to STRL's Value grade of A and HWM's Value grade of D.

STRL is currently sporting an improving earnings outlook, which makes it stick out in our Zacks Rank model. And, based on the above valuation metrics, we feel that STRL is likely the superior value option right now.


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Sterling Infrastructure, Inc. (STRL) - free report >>

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