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CDW 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 CDW (CDW - Free Report) or ServiceNow (NOW - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? Let's 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 Zacks Rank is a proven strategy that targets companies with positive earnings estimate revision trends, while our Style Scores work to grade companies based on specific traits.

Right now, CDW is sporting 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 CDW is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

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.

CDW currently has a forward P/E ratio of 15.21, while NOW has a forward P/E of 67.59. We also note that CDW has a PEG ratio of 1.16. 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. NOW currently has a PEG ratio of 2.34.

Another notable valuation metric for CDW is its P/B ratio of 15.16. 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, NOW has a P/B of 25.35.

Based on these metrics and many more, CDW holds a Value grade of B, while NOW has a Value grade of F.

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


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