Investors interested in stocks from the Consulting Services sector have probably already heard of CRA International (CRAI) and Accenture (ACN). 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.
We have found that the best way to discover great value opportunities is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with a great grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system. The proven Zacks Rank emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.
CRA International and Accenture 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 CRAI is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. However, value investors will care about much more than just this.
Value investors are also interested in a number of tried-and-true valuation metrics that help show when a company is undervalued at its 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.
CRAI currently has a forward P/E ratio of 18.67, while ACN has a forward P/E of 31.64. We also note that CRAI has a PEG ratio of 1.44. This figure is similar to the commonly-used P/E ratio, with the PEG ratio also factoring in a company’s expected earnings growth rate. ACN currently has a PEG ratio of 3.16.
Another notable valuation metric for CRAI is its P/B ratio of 2.49. 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, ACN has a P/B of 9.36.
These are just a few of the metrics contributing to CRAI’s Value grade of A and ACN’s Value grade of C.
CRAI sticks out from ACN in both our Zacks Rank and Style Scores models, so value investors will likely feel that CRAI is the better option right now.
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