Investors with an interest in Insurance - Property and Casualty stocks have likely encountered both Axis Capital (AXS) and Cincinnati Financial (CINF). But which of these two stocks is more attractive to value investors? We'll need to take a closer look to find out.

We have found that the best way to discover great value opportunities is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with a great grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system. The proven Zacks Rank puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

Axis Capital and Cincinnati Financial are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (Buy) and #3 (Hold), respectively, right now. Investors should feel comfortable knowing that AXS likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than CINF has recently. But this is just one piece of the puzzle for value investors.

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 highlights undervalued companies by looking at a variety of key metrics, including the popular P/E ratio, as well as the P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a variety of other fundamentals that have been used by value investors for years.

AXS currently has a forward P/E ratio of 7.20, while CINF has a forward P/E of 21.98. We also note that AXS has a PEG ratio of 0.26. 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. CINF currently has a PEG ratio of 2.65.

Another notable valuation metric for AXS is its P/B ratio of 1.20. 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, CINF has a P/B of 1.59.

These metrics, and several others, help AXS earn a Value grade of A, while CINF has been given a Value grade of C.

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

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Axis Capital Holdings Limited (AXS) : Free Stock Analysis Report

Cincinnati Financial Corporation (CINF) : Free Stock Analysis Report

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