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PFG or TROW: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors with an interest in Financial - Investment Management stocks have likely encountered both Principal Financial (PFG - Free Report) and T. Rowe Price (TROW - 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.

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 favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.

Principal Financial has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while T. Rowe Price has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now. This means that PFG'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.

PFG currently has a forward P/E ratio of 10.73, while TROW has a forward P/E of 15.90. We also note that PFG has a PEG ratio of 1.20. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. TROW currently has a PEG ratio of 2.65.

Another notable valuation metric for PFG is its P/B ratio of 1.76. 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, TROW has a P/B of 2.51.

Based on these metrics and many more, PFG holds a Value grade of A, while TROW has a Value grade of C.

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


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T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (TROW) - free report >>

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