Investors looking for stocks in the Consumer Products - Staples sector might want to consider either Ahold NV (ADRNY) or 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 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.

Ahold NV has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Colgate-Palmolive 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 ADRNY is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. However, value investors will care about much more than just this.

Value investors also try to analyze a wide range of traditional figures and metrics to help determine whether 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.

ADRNY currently has a forward P/E ratio of 13.34, while CL has a forward P/E of 25.70. We also note that ADRNY has a PEG ratio of 2.49. This figure is similar to the commonly-used P/E ratio, with the PEG ratio also factoring in a company's expected earnings growth rate. CL currently has a PEG ratio of 4.64.

Another notable valuation metric for ADRNY is its P/B ratio of 2.13. 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, CL has a P/B of 142.65.

These metrics, and several others, help ADRNY earn a Value grade of A, while CL has been given a Value grade of F.

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

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

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