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BURL vs. COST: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

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Investors interested in stocks from the Retail - Discount Stores sector have probably already heard of Burlington Stores (BURL - Free Report) and Costco (COST - 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.

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 is a proven strategy that targets companies with positive earnings estimate revision trends, while our Style Scores work to grade companies based on specific traits.

Right now, both Burlington Stores and Costco are sporting a Zacks Rank of # 2 (Buy). The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that both of these companies 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 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.

BURL currently has a forward P/E ratio of 31.32, while COST has a forward P/E of 49.24. We also note that BURL has a PEG ratio of 1.26. 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. COST currently has a PEG ratio of 5.38.

Another notable valuation metric for BURL is its P/B ratio of 14.74. 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, COST has a P/B of 16.41.

Based on these metrics and many more, BURL holds a Value grade of B, while COST has a Value grade of C.

Both BURL and COST are impressive stocks with solid earnings outlooks, but based on these valuation figures, we feel that BURL is the superior value option right now.


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Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST) - free report >>

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