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

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

Everyone has their own methods for finding great value opportunities, but our model includes pairing an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system with a strong Zacks Rank. The Zacks Rank favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.

Leidos has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Lockheed Martin has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now. Investors should feel comfortable knowing that LDOS likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than LMT has recently. But this is only part of the picture 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.

LDOS currently has a forward P/E ratio of 17.46, while LMT has a forward P/E of 21.29. We also note that LDOS has a PEG ratio of 1.39. 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 4.56.

Another notable valuation metric for LDOS is its P/B ratio of 4.67. 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, LMT has a P/B of 21.77.

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

LDOS stands above LMT thanks to its solid earnings outlook, and based on these valuation figures, we also feel that LDOS is the superior value option right now.


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