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CMPGY or SHAK: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors with an interest in Retail - Restaurants stocks have likely encountered both Compass Group PLC (CMPGY - Free Report) and Shake Shack (SHAK - 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.

We have found that the best way to discover great value opportunities is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with a great grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system. The Zacks Rank is a proven strategy that targets companies with positive earnings estimate revision trends, while our Style Scores work to grade companies based on specific traits.

Both Compass Group PLC and Shake Shack have a Zacks Rank of # 2 (Buy) right now. This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that these stocks have improving earnings outlooks. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

Value investors also try to analyze a wide range of traditional figures and metrics to help determine whether 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.

CMPGY currently has a forward P/E ratio of 22.50, while SHAK has a forward P/E of 137.23. We also note that CMPGY has a PEG ratio of 1.95. 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. SHAK currently has a PEG ratio of 3.66.

Another notable valuation metric for CMPGY is its P/B ratio of 7.28. 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, SHAK has a P/B of 8.76.

Based on these metrics and many more, CMPGY holds a Value grade of B, while SHAK has a Value grade of F.

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


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