Investors interested in stocks from the Food - Miscellaneous sector have probably already heard of Ingredion (INGR) and Nestle SA (NSRGY). But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? Let's 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.

Ingredion has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), while Nestle SA has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell) right now. This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that INGR is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. But this is only part of the picture 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.

INGR currently has a forward P/E ratio of 13.43, while NSRGY has a forward P/E of 15.96. We also note that INGR has a PEG ratio of 1.22. 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. NSRGY currently has a PEG ratio of 5.30.

Another notable valuation metric for INGR is its P/B ratio of 2.33. 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, NSRGY has a P/B of 5.52.

These metrics, and several others, help INGR earn a Value grade of A, while NSRGY has been given a Value grade of C.

INGR sticks out from NSRGY in both our Zacks Rank and Style Scores models, so value investors will likely feel that INGR 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

Ingredion Incorporated (INGR) : Free Stock Analysis Report

Nestle SA (NSRGY) : Free Stock Analysis Report

To read this article on Zacks.com click here.

Zacks Investment Research