Investors looking for stocks in the Financial - Consumer Loans sector might want to consider either Mr Cooper (COOP) or Sallie Mae (SLM). But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? Let's take a closer look.

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, Mr Cooper has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Sallie Mae has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). Investors should feel comfortable knowing that COOP likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than SLM 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.

COOP currently has a forward P/E ratio of 9.61, while SLM has a forward P/E of 10.78. We also note that COOP has a PEG ratio of 0.37. 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. SLM currently has a PEG ratio of 0.92.

Another notable valuation metric for COOP is its P/B ratio of 1.69. 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, SLM has a P/B of 3.28.

These metrics, and several others, help COOP earn a Value grade of B, while SLM has been given a Value grade of C.

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

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MR. COOPER GROUP INC (COOP):Free Stock Analysis Report

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

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