Investors with an interest in Schools stocks have likely encountered both K12 (LRN Quick QuoteLRN - Free Report) and Bright Horizons Family Solutions (BFAM Quick QuoteBFAM - 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 proven Zacks Rank emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.

Both K12 and Bright Horizons Family Solutions have a Zacks Rank of # 2 (Buy) right now. This means that both companies have witnessed positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that both of these stocks have an improving earnings outlook. But this is just one piece of the puzzle for value investors.

Value investors are also interested in a number of tried-and-true valuation metrics that help show when 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.

LRN currently has a forward P/E ratio of 16, while BFAM has a forward P/E of 39.21. We also note that LRN has a PEG ratio of 0.80. This popular figure is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also considers a company's expected EPS growth rate. BFAM currently has a PEG ratio of 4.06.

Another notable valuation metric for LRN is its P/B ratio of 2.97. 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, BFAM has a P/B of 5.97.

These metrics, and several others, help LRN earn a Value grade of B, while BFAM has been given a Value grade of D.

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