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CCEP or KO: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors interested in Beverages - Soft drinks stocks are likely familiar with Coca-Cola European (CCEP - Free Report) and Coca-Cola (KO - 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.

Currently, both Coca-Cola European and Coca-Cola are holding a Zacks Rank of # 2 (Buy). This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that these stocks have improving earnings outlooks. But this is just one piece of the puzzle for value investors.

Value investors also try to analyze a wide range of traditional figures and metrics to help determine whether 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.

CCEP currently has a forward P/E ratio of 17.45, while KO has a forward P/E of 23.24. We also note that CCEP has a PEG ratio of 3.38. 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. KO currently has a PEG ratio of 3.70.

Another notable valuation metric for CCEP is its P/B ratio of 3.84. 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, KO has a P/B of 10.38.

Based on these metrics and many more, CCEP holds a Value grade of B, while KO has a Value grade of D.

Both CCEP and KO are impressive stocks with solid earnings outlooks, but based on these valuation figures, we feel that CCEP is the superior value option right now.


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CocaCola Company (The) (KO) - free report >>

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