EV Or HRGLY: Which Is The Better Value Stock Right Now?

Investors looking for stocks in the Financial - Investment Management sector might want to consider either Eaton (NYSE:ETN) Vance (EV) or Hargreaves Lansdown (LON:HRGV) plc (HRGLY). But which of these two stocks offers value investors a better bang for their buck right now? We'll need to take a closer look.

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 puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

Currently, Eaton Vance has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Hargreaves Lansdown plc has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). Investors should feel comfortable knowing that EV likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than HRGLY has recently. 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.

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.

EV currently has a forward P/E ratio of 12.33, while HRGLY has a forward P/E of 44.04. We also note that EV has a PEG ratio of 2.32. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. HRGLY currently has a PEG ratio of 3.64.

Another notable valuation metric for EV is its P/B ratio of 4.29. 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, HRGLY has a P/B of 25.45.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to EV's Value grade of A and HRGLY's Value grade of D.

EV has seen stronger estimate revision activity and sports more attractive valuation metrics than HRGLY, so it seems like value investors will conclude that EV is the superior option right now.