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EWCZ or ELF: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors interested in stocks from the Cosmetics sector have probably already heard of European Wax Center, Inc. (EWCZ - Free Report) and e.l.f. Beauty (ELF - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? Let's take a closer look.

The best way to find great value stocks is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system. The Zacks Rank favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.

European Wax Center, Inc. and e.l.f. Beauty are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (Buy) and #5 (Strong Sell), respectively, right now. Investors should feel comfortable knowing that EWCZ likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than ELF has recently. But this is only part of the picture 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.

The Value category of the Style Scores system identifies undervalued companies by looking at a number of key metrics. These include the long-favored P/E ratio, P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a variety of other fundamentals that help us determine a company's fair value.

EWCZ currently has a forward P/E ratio of 18.19, while ELF has a forward P/E of 23.10. We also note that EWCZ has a PEG ratio of 1.32. 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. ELF currently has a PEG ratio of 5.23.

Another notable valuation metric for EWCZ is its P/B ratio of 4.08. 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, ELF has a P/B of 5.65.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to EWCZ's Value grade of B and ELF's Value grade of F.

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


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