AXAHY or ZURVY: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

Investors interested in Insurance - Multi line stocks are likely familiar with Axa Sa (AXAHY) and Zurich Insurance Group Ltd. (ZURVY). But which of these two stocks is more attractive to value investors? We'll need to take a closer look to find out.

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 proven Zacks Rank puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

Axa Sa and Zurich Insurance Group Ltd. are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (Buy) and #3 (Hold), respectively, right now. This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that AXAHY 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.

Our Value category grades stocks based on a number of key metrics, including the tried-and-true P/E ratio, the P/S ratio, earnings yield, and cash flow per share, as well as a variety of other fundamentals that value investors frequently use.

AXAHY currently has a forward P/E ratio of 9.57, while ZURVY has a forward P/E of 14.82. We also note that AXAHY has a PEG ratio of 1.40. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. ZURVY currently has a PEG ratio of 1.57.

Another notable valuation metric for AXAHY is its P/B ratio of 1.83. The P/B ratio is used to compare a stock's market value with its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. For comparison, ZURVY has a P/B of 3.89.

These metrics, and several others, help AXAHY earn a Value grade of B, while ZURVY has been given a Value grade of C.

AXAHY has seen stronger estimate revision activity and sports more attractive valuation metrics than ZURVY, so it seems like value investors will conclude that AXAHY is the superior option right now.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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