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PAHC vs. ABT: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

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Investors interested in stocks from the Medical - Products sector have probably already heard of Phibro Animal Health (PAHC - Free Report) and Abbott (ABT - Free Report) . 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 proven Zacks Rank puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

Phibro Animal Health and Abbott are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (Buy) and #4 (Sell), respectively, right now. Investors should feel comfortable knowing that PAHC likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than ABT has recently. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

Value investors also tend to look at a number of traditional, tried-and-true figures to help them find stocks 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.

PAHC currently has a forward P/E ratio of 15.58, while ABT has a forward P/E of 25.34. We also note that PAHC has a PEG ratio of 1.80. 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. ABT currently has a PEG ratio of 2.94.

Another notable valuation metric for PAHC is its P/B ratio of 3.53. 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, ABT has a P/B of 5.20.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to PAHC's Value grade of A and ABT's Value grade of C.

PAHC is currently sporting an improving earnings outlook, which makes it stick out in our Zacks Rank model. And, based on the above valuation metrics, we feel that PAHC is likely the superior value option right now.


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