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SAIC or NOW: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors looking for stocks in the Computers - IT Services sector might want to consider either SAIC (SAIC - Free Report) or ServiceNow (NOW - 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.

We have found that the best way to discover great value opportunities is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with a great grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system. 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, SAIC has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while ServiceNow has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that SAIC is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. However, value investors will care about much more than just this.

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.

SAIC currently has a forward P/E ratio of 15.69, while NOW has a forward P/E of 88.19. We also note that SAIC has a PEG ratio of 2.85. 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. NOW currently has a PEG ratio of 3.15.

Another notable valuation metric for SAIC is its P/B ratio of 3.46. 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, NOW has a P/B of 44.38.

These metrics, and several others, help SAIC earn a Value grade of B, while NOW has been given a Value grade of F.

SAIC 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 SAIC is likely the superior value option right now.


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