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LGND or RGEN: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors looking for stocks in the Medical - Biomedical and Genetics sector might want to consider either Ligand Pharmaceuticals or Repligen (RGEN - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks offers value investors a better bang for their buck right now? We'll need to 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 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, Ligand Pharmaceuticals is sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), while Repligen has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy). Investors should feel comfortable knowing that LGND likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than RGEN has recently. However, value investors will care about much more than just this.

Value investors also tend to look at a number of traditional, tried-and-true figures to help them find stocks that they believe are undervalued at their current share price levels.

The Style Score Value grade factors in a variety of key fundamental metrics, including the popular P/E ratio, P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a number of other key stats that are commonly used by value investors.

LGND currently has a forward P/E ratio of 30, while RGEN has a forward P/E of 104.23. We also note that LGND has a PEG ratio of 2. 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. RGEN currently has a PEG ratio of 4.74.

Another notable valuation metric for LGND is its P/B ratio of 2.69. The P/B is a method of comparing a stock's market value to its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. By comparison, RGEN has a P/B of 5.70.

These metrics, and several others, help LGND earn a Value grade of B, while RGEN has been given a Value grade of C.

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


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