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USNA vs. ZTS: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

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Investors interested in Medical - Drugs stocks are likely familiar with USANA Health Sciences (USNA - Free Report) and Zoetis (ZTS - 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.

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 puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

USANA Health Sciences has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Zoetis has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell) right now. This means that USNA'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.

USNA currently has a forward P/E ratio of 15.85, while ZTS has a forward P/E of 30.38. We also note that USNA has a PEG ratio of 1.32. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. ZTS currently has a PEG ratio of 2.72.

Another notable valuation metric for USNA is its P/B ratio of 1.69. Investors use the P/B ratio to look at a stock's market value versus its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. By comparison, ZTS has a P/B of 15.80.

Based on these metrics and many more, USNA holds a Value grade of A, while ZTS has a Value grade of D.

USNA is currently sporting an improving earnings outlook, which makes it stick out in our Zacks Rank model. And, based on the above valuation metrics, we feel that USNA is likely the superior value option right now.


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Zoetis Inc. (ZTS) - free report >>

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