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KNF or JHX: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors interested in stocks from the Building Products - Miscellaneous sector have probably already heard of Knife River (KNF - Free Report) and James Hardie (JHX - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? Let's 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 Zacks Rank favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.

Knife River and James Hardie are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (Buy) and #4 (Sell), respectively, right now. The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that KNF has an improving earnings outlook. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

Value investors also tend to look at a number of traditional, tried-and-true figures to help them find stocks that they believe are undervalued at their current share price levels.

The Style Score Value grade factors in a variety of key fundamental metrics, including the popular P/E ratio, P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a number of other key stats that are commonly used by value investors.

KNF currently has a forward P/E ratio of 19.56, while JHX has a forward P/E of 20.26. We also note that KNF has a PEG ratio of 2.58. 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. JHX currently has a PEG ratio of 2.65.

Another notable valuation metric for KNF is its P/B ratio of 3.19. 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, JHX has a P/B of 7.17.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to KNF's Value grade of B and JHX's Value grade of C.

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


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James Hardie Industries PLC. (JHX) - free report >>

Knife River Corporation (KNF) - free report >>

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