BEN vs. APO: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

Investors interested in stocks from the Financial - Investment Management sector have probably already heard of Franklin Resources (BEN) and Apollo Global Management Inc. (APO). 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.

Franklin Resources has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Apollo Global Management Inc. has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now. Investors should feel comfortable knowing that BEN likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than APO 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.

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.

BEN currently has a forward P/E ratio of 12.42, while APO has a forward P/E of 14.57. We also note that BEN has a PEG ratio of 0.77. 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. APO currently has a PEG ratio of 1.04.

Another notable valuation metric for BEN is its P/B ratio of 1.39. 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, APO has a P/B of 1.96.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to BEN's Value grade of B and APO's Value grade of C.

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

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

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