Investors interested in stocks from the Consumer Products - Staples sector have probably already heard of National Vision (EYE) and Colgate-Palmolive (CL). 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.

The best way to find great value stocks is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system. The Zacks Rank favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.

Currently, National Vision has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Colgate-Palmolive has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). Investors should feel comfortable knowing that EYE likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than CL has recently. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

Value investors also tend to look at a number of traditional, tried-and-true figures to help them find stocks 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.

EYE currently has a forward P/E ratio of 22.17, while CL has a forward P/E of 24.47. We also note that EYE has a PEG ratio of 2.28. 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. CL currently has a PEG ratio of 4.39.

Another notable valuation metric for EYE is its P/B ratio of 1.17. 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, CL has a P/B of 137.80.

Based on these metrics and many more, EYE holds a Value grade of B, while CL has a Value grade of D.

EYE is currently sporting an improving earnings outlook, which makes it stick out in our Zacks Rank model. And, based on the above valuation metrics, we feel that EYE is likely the superior value option right now.

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National Vision Holdings, Inc. (EYE) : Free Stock Analysis Report

Colgate-Palmolive Company (CL) : Free Stock Analysis Report

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

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