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HII or LMT: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors interested in Aerospace - Defense stocks are likely familiar with Huntington Ingalls (HII - Free Report) and Lockheed Martin (LMT - 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 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.

Right now, Huntington Ingalls is sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Lockheed Martin has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). This means that HII's earnings estimate revision activity has been more impressive, so investors should feel comfortable with its improving analyst outlook. But this is only part of the picture for value investors.

Value investors also tend to look at a number of traditional, tried-and-true figures to help them find stocks 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.

HII currently has a forward P/E ratio of 16.89, while LMT has a forward P/E of 19.94. We also note that HII has a PEG ratio of 2.36. 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. LMT currently has a PEG ratio of 4.70.

Another notable valuation metric for HII is its P/B ratio of 2.64. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. For comparison, LMT has a P/B of 20.26.

These metrics, and several others, help HII earn a Value grade of B, while LMT has been given a Value grade of C.

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


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