Investors looking for stocks in the Chemical - Specialty sector might want to consider either Axalta Coating Systems (AXTA) or Hawkins (HWKN). But which of these two stocks is more attractive to value investors? We'll need to take a closer look to find out.

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.

Axalta Coating Systems and Hawkins are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (Buy) and #3 (Hold), respectively, right now. This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that AXTA 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.

AXTA currently has a forward P/E ratio of 14.71, while HWKN has a forward P/E of 27.55. We also note that AXTA has a PEG ratio of 0.95. 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. HWKN currently has a PEG ratio of 3.94.

Another notable valuation metric for AXTA is its P/B ratio of 4.13. The P/B ratio is used to compare a stock's market value with its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. For comparison, HWKN has a P/B of 5.04.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to AXTA's Value grade of B and HWKN's Value grade of D.

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

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Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (AXTA) : Free Stock Analysis Report

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