LL vs. FAST: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?
Investors looking for stocks in the Building Products - Retail sector might want to consider either Lumber Liquidators Holdings (LL) or Fastenal (FAST). But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? Let's 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 Zacks Rank favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.
Lumber Liquidators Holdings and Fastenal are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (Buy) and #3 (Hold), respectively, right now. Investors should feel comfortable knowing that LL likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than FAST has recently. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.
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 Style Score Value grade factors in a variety of key fundamental metrics, including the popular P/E ratio, P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a number of other key stats that are commonly used by value investors.
LL currently has a forward P/E ratio of 24.37, while FAST has a forward P/E of 29.47. We also note that LL has a PEG ratio of 0.89. 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. FAST currently has a PEG ratio of 3.27.
Another notable valuation metric for LL is its P/B ratio of 4.16. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. For comparison, FAST has a P/B of 9.58.
Based on these metrics and many more, LL holds a Value grade of B, while FAST has a Value grade of D.
LL stands above FAST thanks to its solid earnings outlook, and based on these valuation figures, we also feel that LL is the superior value option right now.
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Lumber Liquidators Holdings, Inc (LL) : Free Stock Analysis Report
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