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HLN vs. LMAT: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

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Investors with an interest in Medical - Products stocks have likely encountered both Haleon PLC Sponsored ADR (HLN - Free Report) and LeMaitre Vascular (LMAT - 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 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.

Haleon PLC Sponsored ADR and LeMaitre Vascular are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (Buy) and #3 (Hold), respectively, right now. This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that HLN is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. But this is only part of the picture for value investors.

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.

HLN currently has a forward P/E ratio of 18.92, while LMAT has a forward P/E of 48.65. We also note that HLN has a PEG ratio of 2.52. 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. LMAT currently has a PEG ratio of 2.63.

Another notable valuation metric for HLN is its P/B ratio of 1.95. 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, LMAT has a P/B of 6.28.

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

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


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LeMaitre Vascular, Inc. (LMAT) - free report >>

Haleon PLC Sponsored ADR (HLN) - free report >>

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