ABT vs. LMAT: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?
Investors interested in Medical - Products stocks are likely familiar with Abbott (ABT) and LeMaitre Vascular (LMAT). 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 favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.
Right now, Abbott is sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while LeMaitre Vascular 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 ABT has an improving earnings outlook. 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.
ABT currently has a forward P/E ratio of 24.51, while LMAT has a forward P/E of 52.93. We also note that ABT has a PEG ratio of 4.82. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. LMAT currently has a PEG ratio of 5.29.
Another notable valuation metric for ABT is its P/B ratio of 5.02. 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, LMAT has a P/B of 5.14.
These are just a few of the metrics contributing to ABT's Value grade of B and LMAT's Value grade of D.
ABT sticks out from LMAT in both our Zacks Rank and Style Scores models, so value investors will likely feel that ABT is the better option right now.
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Abbott Laboratories (ABT) : Free Stock Analysis Report
LeMaitre Vascular, Inc. (LMAT) : Free Stock Analysis Report
