PATK vs. AWI: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

Investors looking for stocks in the Building Products - Miscellaneous sector might want to consider either Patrick Industries (PATK) or Armstrong World Industries (AWI). 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 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.

Patrick Industries and Armstrong World Industries are both sporting a Zacks Rank of # 2 (Buy) right now. This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that these stocks have improving earnings outlooks. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

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.

PATK currently has a forward P/E ratio of 13.31, while AWI has a forward P/E of 18.74. We also note that PATK has a PEG ratio of 0.99. 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. AWI currently has a PEG ratio of 1.12.

Another notable valuation metric for PATK is its P/B ratio of 3.84. 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 8.94.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to PATK's Value grade of A and AWI's Value grade of C.

Both PATK and AWI are impressive stocks with solid earnings outlooks, but based on these valuation figures, we feel that PATK is the superior value option right now.

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