Investors interested in stocks from the Transportation - Equipment and Leasing sector have probably already heard of Greenbrier Companies (GBX) and Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies (WAB). 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 Zacks Rank is a proven strategy that targets companies with positive earnings estimate revision trends, while our Style Scores work to grade companies based on specific traits.

Currently, Greenbrier Companies has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), while Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that GBX is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. But this is only part of the picture for value investors.

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.

Our Value category grades stocks based on a number of key metrics, including the tried-and-true P/E ratio, the P/S ratio, earnings yield, and cash flow per share, as well as a variety of other fundamentals that value investors frequently use.

GBX currently has a forward P/E ratio of 10.63, while WAB has a forward P/E of 22.01. We also note that GBX has a PEG ratio of 0.91. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. WAB currently has a PEG ratio of 1.21.

Another notable valuation metric for GBX is its P/B ratio of 1.25. 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, WAB has a P/B of 3.15.

Based on these metrics and many more, GBX holds a Value grade of A, while WAB has a Value grade of D.

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

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