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NOC vs. HWM: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

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Investors interested in Aerospace - Defense stocks are likely familiar with Northrop Grumman (NOC - Free Report) and Howmet (HWM - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? Let's take a closer look.

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 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, Northrop Grumman is sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Howmet has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). Investors should feel comfortable knowing that NOC likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than HWM has recently. But this is just one piece of the puzzle for value investors.

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.

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.

NOC currently has a forward P/E ratio of 19.71, while HWM has a forward P/E of 38.57. We also note that NOC has a PEG ratio of 1.03. 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. HWM currently has a PEG ratio of 1.45.

Another notable valuation metric for NOC is its P/B ratio of 5.01. 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, HWM has a P/B of 9.67.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to NOC's Value grade of B and HWM's Value grade of D.

NOC sticks out from HWM in both our Zacks Rank and Style Scores models, so value investors will likely feel that NOC is the better option right now.


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Northrop Grumman Corporation (NOC) - free report >>

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