VIRT or BX: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?
Investors with an interest in Financial - Miscellaneous Services stocks have likely encountered both Virtu Financial (VIRT) and Blackstone Inc. (BX). But which of these two companies is the best option for those looking for undervalued stocks? Let's take a closer look.
There are plenty of strategies for discovering value stocks, but we have found that pairing a strong Zacks Rank with an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system produces the best returns. The Zacks Rank favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.
Virtu Financial and Blackstone Inc. are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (Buy) and #4 (Sell), respectively, right now. This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that VIRT is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. But this is just one piece of the puzzle for value investors.
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 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.
VIRT currently has a forward P/E ratio of 9.01, while BX has a forward P/E of 26.44. We also note that VIRT has a PEG ratio of 0.40. 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. BX currently has a PEG ratio of 1.06.
Another notable valuation metric for VIRT is its P/B ratio of 2.48. 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, BX has a P/B of 5.06.
Based on these metrics and many more, VIRT holds a Value grade of B, while BX has a Value grade of F.
VIRT has seen stronger estimate revision activity and sports more attractive valuation metrics than BX, so it seems like value investors will conclude that VIRT is the superior option right now.
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Virtu Financial, Inc. (VIRT) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Blackstone Inc. (BX) : Free Stock Analysis Report