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CRH or AWI: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

Investors interested in Building Products - Miscellaneous stocks are likely familiar with CRH (CRH) and Armstrong World Industries (AWI). But which of these two stocks is more attractive to value investors? We'll need to take a closer look to find out.

The best way to find great value stocks is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with an impressive 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.

Currently, CRH has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), while Armstrong World Industries has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell). This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that CRH is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

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 Value category of the Style Scores system identifies undervalued companies by looking at a number of key metrics. These include the long-favored P/E ratio, P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a variety of other fundamentals that help us determine a company's fair value.

CRH currently has a forward P/E ratio of 12.70, while AWI has a forward P/E of 14.60. We also note that CRH has a PEG ratio of 1.24. 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. AWI currently has a PEG ratio of 1.69.

Another notable valuation metric for CRH is its P/B ratio of 1.67. 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, AWI has a P/B of 6.05.

These metrics, and several others, help CRH earn a Value grade of B, while AWI has been given a Value grade of C.

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

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CRH PLC (CRH) : Free Stock Analysis Report

Armstrong World Industries, Inc. (AWI) : Free Stock Analysis Report

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Zacks Investment Research