Investors interested in Textile - Apparel stocks are likely familiar with Gildan Activewear (GIL) and Kontoor Brands (KTB). 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 proven Zacks Rank emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.

Gildan Activewear and Kontoor Brands 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 GIL is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. But this is just one piece of the puzzle for value investors.

Value investors are also interested in a number of tried-and-true valuation metrics that help show when a company is undervalued at its current share price levels.

The Value category of the Style Scores system identifies undervalued companies by looking at a number of key metrics. These include the long-favored P/E ratio, P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a variety of other fundamentals that help us determine a company's fair value.

GIL currently has a forward P/E ratio of 15.56, while KTB has a forward P/E of 16.67. We also note that GIL has a PEG ratio of 1.73. 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. KTB currently has a PEG ratio of 2.08.

Another notable valuation metric for GIL is its P/B ratio of 5.67. 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, KTB has a P/B of 13.58.

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

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

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Gildan Activewear, Inc. (GIL) : Free Stock Analysis Report

Kontoor Brands, Inc. (KTB) : Free Stock Analysis Report

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

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