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CRAI or IT: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors interested in Consulting Services stocks are likely familiar with CRA International (CRAI - Free Report) and Gartner (IT - 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.

There are plenty of strategies for discovering value stocks, but we have found that pairing a strong Zacks Rank with an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system produces the best returns. The Zacks Rank favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.

Right now, CRA International is sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Gartner has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). This means that CRAI'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 analyze a variety of traditional, tried-and-true metrics to help find companies 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.

CRAI currently has a forward P/E ratio of 27.34, while IT has a forward P/E of 38.80. We also note that CRAI has a PEG ratio of 1.71. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. IT currently has a PEG ratio of 3.92.

Another notable valuation metric for CRAI is its P/B ratio of 5.52. 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, IT has a P/B of 48.44.

These metrics, and several others, help CRAI earn a Value grade of B, while IT has been given a Value grade of D.

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


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