Investors looking for stocks in the Industrial Services sector might want to consider either Ashtead Group PLC (ASHTY) or Fastenal (FAST). 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 emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.

Currently, Ashtead Group PLC has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), while Fastenal has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that ASHTY has an improving earnings outlook. But this is just one piece of the puzzle for value investors.

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.

ASHTY currently has a forward P/E ratio of 15.49, while FAST has a forward P/E of 42.11. We also note that ASHTY has a PEG ratio of 1.55. 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. FAST currently has a PEG ratio of 4.26.

Another notable valuation metric for ASHTY is its P/B ratio of 3.86. 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, FAST has a P/B of 14.05.

Based on these metrics and many more, ASHTY holds a Value grade of B, while FAST has a Value grade of F.

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

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report

Ashtead Group PLC (ASHTY):Free Stock Analysis Report

Fastenal Company (FAST):Free Stock Analysis Report

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

Zacks Investment Research

View Comments