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CR vs. HON: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

Wall Street finished in the green reversing its five-day negative trend on Thursday following news that United States and China have ramped up their efforts to resolve lingering trade disputes

Investors interested in Diversified Operations stocks are likely familiar with Crane (CR) and Honeywell (HON). But which of these two stocks is more attractive to value investors? We'll need to take a closer look to find out.

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 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.

Crane has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Honeywell has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now. Investors should feel comfortable knowing that CR likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than HON has recently. But this is just one piece of the puzzle 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.

CR currently has a forward P/E ratio of 15.37, while HON has a forward P/E of 18.72. We also note that CR has a PEG ratio of 1.60. 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. HON currently has a PEG ratio of 1.77.

Another notable valuation metric for CR is its P/B ratio of 3.65. 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, HON has a P/B of 6.37.

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

CR is currently sporting an improving earnings outlook, which makes it stick out in our Zacks Rank model. And, based on the above valuation metrics, we feel that CR is likely the superior value option right now.


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Crane Company (CR) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Honeywell International Inc. (HON) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
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