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Investors looking for stocks in the Chemical - Specialty sector might want to consider either Ashland (ASH) or Novozymes A/S (NVZMY). 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.
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 proven Zacks Rank emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.
Both Ashland and Novozymes A/S have a Zacks Rank of # 2 (Buy) right now. This means that both companies have witnessed positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that both of these stocks have an improving earnings outlook. But this is just one piece of the puzzle for value investors.
Value investors also try to analyze a wide range of traditional figures and metrics to help determine whether 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.
ASH currently has a forward P/E ratio of 20.82, while NVZMY has a forward P/E of 33.53. We also note that ASH has a PEG ratio of 0.91. 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. NVZMY currently has a PEG ratio of 3.44.
Another notable valuation metric for ASH is its P/B ratio of 1.52. 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, NVZMY has a P/B of 13.68.
Based on these metrics and many more, ASH holds a Value grade of B, while NVZMY has a Value grade of F.
Both ASH and NVZMY are impressive stocks with solid earnings outlooks, but based on these valuation figures, we feel that ASH is the superior value option right now.
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Ashland Inc. (ASH) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Novozymes A/S (NVZMY) : Free Stock Analysis Report