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ENS vs. ETN: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

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Investors with an interest in Manufacturing - Electronics stocks have likely encountered both EnerSys (ENS - Free Report) and Eaton (ETN - 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.

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.

Currently, EnerSys has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), while Eaton has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). This means that ENS'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.

ENS currently has a forward P/E ratio of 12.07, while ETN has a forward P/E of 29.54. We also note that ENS has a PEG ratio of 0.67. 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. ETN currently has a PEG ratio of 2.61.

Another notable valuation metric for ENS is its P/B ratio of 2.43. 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, ETN has a P/B of 6.45.

These metrics, and several others, help ENS earn a Value grade of A, while ETN has been given a Value grade of D.

ENS has seen stronger estimate revision activity and sports more attractive valuation metrics than ETN, so it seems like value investors will conclude that ENS is the superior option right now.


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