Investors with an interest in Banks - Midwest stocks have likely encountered both Huntington Bancshares (HBAN) and Commerce Bancshares (CBSH). But which of these two stocks is more attractive to value investors? We'll need to take a closer look to find out.

There are plenty of strategies for discovering value stocks, but we have found that pairing a strong Zacks Rank with an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system produces the best returns. The Zacks Rank favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.

Huntington Bancshares has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Commerce Bancshares has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now. This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that HBAN is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

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.

HBAN currently has a forward P/E ratio of 12.08, while CBSH has a forward P/E of 17.58. We also note that HBAN has a PEG ratio of 1.39. This popular figure is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also considers a company's expected EPS growth rate. CBSH currently has a PEG ratio of 3.64.

Another notable valuation metric for HBAN is its P/B ratio of 1.38. 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, CBSH has a P/B of 2.52.

Based on these metrics and many more, HBAN holds a Value grade of B, while CBSH has a Value grade of C.

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

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Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (HBAN) : Free Stock Analysis Report

Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (CBSH) : Free Stock Analysis Report

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