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BFH or MA: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors interested in stocks from the Financial Transaction Services sector have probably already heard of Bread Financial Holdings (BFH - Free Report) and MasterCard (MA - Free Report) . But which of these two companies is the best option for those looking for undervalued stocks? Let's 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.

Bread Financial Holdings has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while MasterCard has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now. The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that BFH has an improving earnings outlook. But this is just one piece of the puzzle for value investors.

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.

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.

BFH currently has a forward P/E ratio of 7.82, while MA has a forward P/E of 31.40. We also note that BFH has a PEG ratio of 0.20. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. MA currently has a PEG ratio of 1.77.

Another notable valuation metric for BFH is its P/B ratio of 0.85. 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, MA has a P/B of 57.09.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to BFH's Value grade of A and MA's Value grade of D.

BFH is currently sporting an improving earnings outlook, which makes it stick out in our Zacks Rank model. And, based on the above valuation metrics, we feel that BFH is likely the superior value option right now.


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