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LH vs. ALGN: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

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Investors interested in Medical - Dental Supplies stocks are likely familiar with LabCorp (LH - Free Report) and Align Technology (ALGN - 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 proven Zacks Rank puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

LabCorp and Align Technology are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (Buy) and #4 (Sell), respectively, right now. Investors should feel comfortable knowing that LH likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than ALGN has recently. 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.

LH currently has a forward P/E ratio of 17.56, while ALGN has a forward P/E of 83.86. We also note that LH has a PEG ratio of 2.90. 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. ALGN currently has a PEG ratio of 7.80.

Another notable valuation metric for LH is its P/B ratio of 2.35. The P/B ratio is used to compare a stock's market value with its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. For comparison, ALGN has a P/B of 7.24.

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

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


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