Investors with an interest in Financial - Miscellaneous Services stocks have likely encountered both Intercorp Financial Services Inc. (IFS) and Blackstone Inc. (BX). But which of these two companies is the best option for those looking for undervalued stocks? Let's take a closer look.
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 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, Intercorp Financial Services Inc. is sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Blackstone Inc. has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). Investors should feel comfortable knowing that IFS likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than BX has recently. But this is just one piece of the puzzle for value investors.
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.
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.
IFS currently has a forward P/E ratio of 7.88, while BX has a forward P/E of 28.09. We also note that IFS has a PEG ratio of 0.33. 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. BX currently has a PEG ratio of 1.07.
Another notable valuation metric for IFS is its P/B ratio of 1.30. 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, BX has a P/B of 6.37.
These are just a few of the metrics contributing to IFS's Value grade of B and BX's Value grade of D.
IFS sticks out from BX in both our Zacks Rank and Style Scores models, so value investors will likely feel that IFS is the better option right now.
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Blackstone Inc. (BX) : Free Stock Analysis Report
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