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SAN or SMFG: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors looking for stocks in the Banks - Foreign sector might want to consider either Banco Santander (SAN - Free Report) or Sumitomo Mitsui (SMFG - 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.

The best way to find great value stocks is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system. The proven Zacks Rank emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.

Right now, Banco Santander is sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Sumitomo Mitsui has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that SAN is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

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.

SAN currently has a forward P/E ratio of 5.01, while SMFG has a forward P/E of 11.86. We also note that SAN has a PEG ratio of 0.33. 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. SMFG currently has a PEG ratio of 1.51.

Another notable valuation metric for SAN is its P/B ratio of 0.56. 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, SMFG has a P/B of 0.72.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to SAN's Value grade of A and SMFG's Value grade of C.

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


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Banco Santander, S.A. (SAN) - free report >>

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc (SMFG) - free report >>

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