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BSBR vs. BSAC: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

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Investors interested in stocks from the Banks - Foreign sector have probably already heard of Banco Santander-Brazil (BSBR - Free Report) and Banco Santander-Chile (BSAC - 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 proven Zacks Rank puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

Currently, Banco Santander-Brazil has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Banco Santander-Chile has a Zacks Rank of #5 (Strong Sell). This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that BSBR is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. 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.

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.

BSBR currently has a forward P/E ratio of 11.72, while BSAC has a forward P/E of 13.51. We also note that BSBR has a PEG ratio of 0.81. 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. BSAC currently has a PEG ratio of 1.04.

Another notable valuation metric for BSBR is its P/B ratio of 1.65. Investors use the P/B ratio to look at a stock's market value versus its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. By comparison, BSAC has a P/B of 2.50.

These metrics, and several others, help BSBR earn a Value grade of A, while BSAC has been given a Value grade of F.

BSBR has seen stronger estimate revision activity and sports more attractive valuation metrics than BSAC, so it seems like value investors will conclude that BSBR is the superior option right now.


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Banco Santander Brasil SA (BSBR) - free report >>

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