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GL vs. VIRT: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

Investors with an interest in Financial - Miscellaneous Services stocks have likely encountered both Globe Life (GL) and Virtu Financial (VIRT). 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 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.

Globe Life has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Virtu Financial has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell) right now. Investors should feel comfortable knowing that GL likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than VIRT has recently. But this is only part of the picture 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.

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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.

GL currently has a forward P/E ratio of 14.67, while VIRT has a forward P/E of 17.27. We also note that GL has a PEG ratio of 1.82. 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. VIRT currently has a PEG ratio of 3.45.

Another notable valuation metric for GL is its P/B ratio of 1.47. 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, VIRT has a P/B of 2.45.

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

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


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Globe Life Inc. (GL) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Virtu Financial, Inc. (VIRT) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
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