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HSBC or CM: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors looking for stocks in the Banks - Foreign sector might want to consider either HSBC (HSBC - Free Report) or Canadian Imperial Bank (CM - 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.

Currently, HSBC has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Canadian Imperial Bank has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). Investors should feel comfortable knowing that HSBC likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than CM has recently. 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.

HSBC currently has a forward P/E ratio of 6.76, while CM has a forward P/E of 10.14. We also note that HSBC has a PEG ratio of 1.02. 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. CM currently has a PEG ratio of 2.02.

Another notable valuation metric for HSBC is its P/B ratio of 0.83. 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, CM has a P/B of 1.30.

Based on these metrics and many more, HSBC holds a Value grade of B, while CM has a Value grade of C.

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


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