NVEE Vs. IT: Which Stock Is The Better Value Option?

Investors interested in Consulting Services stocks are likely familiar with NV5 Holdings (NVEE) and Gartner (IT). 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 favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.

Currently, NV5 Holdings has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Gartner has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that NVEE is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. 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.

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.

NVEE currently has a forward P/E ratio of 20.40, while IT has a forward P/E of 40.28. We also note that NVEE has a PEG ratio of 1.02. 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. IT currently has a PEG ratio of 2.84.

Another notable valuation metric for NVEE is its P/B ratio of 3. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. For comparison, IT has a P/B of 16.76.

These metrics, and several others, help NVEE earn a Value grade of B, while IT has been given a Value grade of D.

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