DKS or TSCO: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

Investors with an interest in Retail - Miscellaneous stocks have likely encountered both Dick's Sporting Goods (DKS) and Tractor Supply (TSCO). But which of these two companies is the best option for those looking for undervalued stocks? 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.

Dick's Sporting Goods and Tractor Supply are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (Buy) and #5 (Strong Sell), respectively, right now. This means that DKS's earnings estimate revision activity has been more impressive, so investors should feel comfortable with its improving analyst outlook. 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.

DKS currently has a forward P/E ratio of 15.04, while TSCO has a forward P/E of 17.77. We also note that DKS has a PEG ratio of 1.87. 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. TSCO currently has a PEG ratio of 11.17.

Another notable valuation metric for DKS is its P/B ratio of 3.42. The P/B is a method of comparing a stock's market value to its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. By comparison, TSCO has a P/B of 6.9.

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

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

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

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