Investors looking for stocks in the Manufacturing – Electronics sector might want to consider either EnerSys (ENS) or Eaton (ETN). But which of these two stocks is more attractive to value investors? We’ll need to take a closer look to find out.
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 favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.
Currently, EnerSys has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Eaton has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that ENS has an improving earnings outlook. But this is only part of the picture for value investors.
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.
The Value category of the Style Scores system identifies undervalued companies by looking at a number of key metrics. These include the long-favored P/E ratio, P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a variety of other fundamentals that help us determine a company’s fair value.
ENS currently has a forward P/E ratio of 16.27, while ETN has a forward P/E of 21.38. We also note that ENS has a PEG ratio of 1.63. 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. ETN currently has a PEG ratio of 1.94.
Another notable valuation metric for ENS is its P/B ratio of 2.23. 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, ETN has a P/B of 3.99.
Based on these metrics and many more, ENS holds a Value grade of B, while ETN has a Value grade of C.
ENS sticks out from ETN in both our Zacks Rank and Style Scores models, so value investors will likely feel that ENS is the better option right now.
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