OCPNY vs. IDXX: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

Investors interested in Medical - Instruments stocks are likely familiar with Olympus Corp. (OCPNY) and Idexx Laboratories (IDXX). 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 proven Zacks Rank emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.

Olympus Corp. has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Idexx Laboratories has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell) right now. The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that OCPNY has an improving earnings outlook. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

Value investors also try to analyze a wide range of traditional figures and metrics to help determine whether 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.

OCPNY currently has a forward P/E ratio of 23.76, while IDXX has a forward P/E of 47.30. We also note that OCPNY has a PEG ratio of 1.76. 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. IDXX currently has a PEG ratio of 4.98.

Another notable valuation metric for OCPNY is its P/B ratio of 6.65. The P/B ratio is used to compare a stock's market value with its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. For comparison, IDXX has a P/B of 68.13.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to OCPNY's Value grade of B and IDXX's Value grade of D.

OCPNY stands above IDXX thanks to its solid earnings outlook, and based on these valuation figures, we also feel that OCPNY is the superior value option right now.

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