AXP vs. MCO: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

Investors with an interest in Financial - Miscellaneous Services stocks have likely encountered both American Express (AXP) and Moody's (MCO). 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.

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 favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.

Right now, American Express is sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Moody's has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). Investors should feel comfortable knowing that AXP likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than MCO has recently. But this is just one piece of the puzzle for value investors.

Value investors also try to analyze a wide range of traditional figures and metrics to help determine whether a company is undervalued at its 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.

AXP currently has a forward P/E ratio of 14.20, while MCO has a forward P/E of 26.92. We also note that AXP has a PEG ratio of 1.14. 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. MCO currently has a PEG ratio of 2.45.

Another notable valuation metric for AXP is its P/B ratio of 4.53. 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, MCO has a P/B of 18.85.

Based on these metrics and many more, AXP holds a Value grade of B, while MCO has a Value grade of D.

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

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
 
American Express Company (AXP) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Moody's Corporation (MCO) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
 
Zacks Investment Research