CIO or OHI: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

Investors looking for stocks in the REIT and Equity Trust - Other sector might want to consider either City Office REIT (CIO) or Omega Healthcare Investors (OHI). But which of these two stocks is more attractive to value investors? We'll need to take a closer look to find out.

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 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.

City Office REIT and Omega Healthcare Investors are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (Buy) and #3 (Hold), respectively, right now. Investors should feel comfortable knowing that CIO likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than OHI has recently. 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.

CIO currently has a forward P/E ratio of 8.16, while OHI has a forward P/E of 9.66. We also note that CIO has a PEG ratio of 1.36. 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. OHI currently has a PEG ratio of 5.96.

Another notable valuation metric for CIO is its P/B ratio of 0.72. 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, OHI has a P/B of 1.66.

Based on these metrics and many more, CIO holds a Value grade of B, while OHI has a Value grade of C.

CIO has seen stronger estimate revision activity and sports more attractive valuation metrics than OHI, so it seems like value investors will conclude that CIO is the superior 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
 
City Office REIT, Inc. (CIO) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc. (OHI) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.