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SPPJY vs. WRK: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

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Investors looking for stocks in the Paper and Related Products sector might want to consider either Sappi Ltd. (SPPJY - Free Report) or WestRock . But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? Let's take a closer look.

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

Sappi Ltd. has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while WestRock has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now. This means that SPPJY's earnings estimate revision activity has been more impressive, so investors should feel comfortable with its improving analyst outlook. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

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.

SPPJY currently has a forward P/E ratio of 6.71, while WRK has a forward P/E of 23.20. We also note that SPPJY has a PEG ratio of 0.49. This figure is similar to the commonly-used P/E ratio, with the PEG ratio also factoring in a company's expected earnings growth rate. WRK currently has a PEG ratio of 3.71.

Another notable valuation metric for SPPJY is its P/B ratio of 0.55. 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, WRK has a P/B of 1.14.

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

SPPJY sticks out from WRK in both our Zacks Rank and Style Scores models, so value investors will likely feel that SPPJY is the better option right now.


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