LX or FCFS: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?
Investors interested in Financial - Consumer Loans stocks are likely familiar with Lexinfintech Holdings (LX) and First Cash Financial Services (FCFS). 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 puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.
Lexinfintech Holdings has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), while First Cash Financial Services has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell) right now. This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that LX is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. 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.
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.
LX currently has a forward P/E ratio of 5.98, while FCFS has a forward P/E of 20.89. We also note that LX has a PEG ratio of 0.34. This popular figure is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also considers a company's expected EPS growth rate. FCFS currently has a PEG ratio of 1.39.
Another notable valuation metric for LX is its P/B ratio of 2.48. 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, FCFS has a P/B of 2.58.
Based on these metrics and many more, LX holds a Value grade of B, while FCFS has a Value grade of C.
LX has seen stronger estimate revision activity and sports more attractive valuation metrics than FCFS, so it seems like value investors will conclude that LX is the superior option right now.
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