EGOV or APTI: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

Investors interested in Internet - Software stocks are likely familiar with NIC (EGOV) and Apptio (APTI). 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.

NIC has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Apptio has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now. Investors should feel comfortable knowing that EGOV likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than APTI 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.

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.

EGOV currently has a forward P/E ratio of 17.62, while APTI has a forward P/E of 572.31. We also note that EGOV has a PEG ratio of 1.76. This popular figure is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also considers a company's expected EPS growth rate. APTI currently has a PEG ratio of 45.78.

Another notable valuation metric for EGOV is its P/B ratio of 4.79. 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, APTI has a P/B of 8.78.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to EGOV's Value grade of B and APTI's Value grade of F.

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

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NIC Inc. (EGOV) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
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