EHC or CHE: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?
Investors with an interest in Medical - Outpatient and Home Healthcare stocks have likely encountered both Encompass Health (EHC) and Chemed (CHE). But which of these two stocks is more attractive to value investors? We'll need to take a closer look to find out.
Everyone has their own methods for finding great value opportunities, but our model includes pairing an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system with a strong Zacks Rank. The proven Zacks Rank puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.
Encompass Health and Chemed are both sporting a Zacks Rank of # 2 (Buy) right now. This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that these stocks have improving earnings outlooks. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.
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 grades stocks based on a number of key metrics, including the tried-and-true P/E ratio, the P/S ratio, earnings yield, and cash flow per share, as well as a variety of other fundamentals that value investors frequently use.
EHC currently has a forward P/E ratio of 24.81, while CHE has a forward P/E of 26.51. We also note that EHC has a PEG ratio of 1.59. 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. CHE currently has a PEG ratio of 3.81.
Another notable valuation metric for EHC is its P/B ratio of 4.17. 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, CHE has a P/B of 8.13.
These are just a few of the metrics contributing to EHC's Value grade of B and CHE's Value grade of C.
Both EHC and CHE are impressive stocks with solid earnings outlooks, but based on these valuation figures, we feel that EHC is the superior value option right now.
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Encompass Health Corporation (EHC) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Chemed Corporation (CHE) : Free Stock Analysis Report
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