Investors with an interest in Industrial Services stocks have likely encountered both Ashtead Group PLC (ASHTY) and W.W. Grainger (GWW). But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? Let's 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.

Ashtead Group PLC has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), while W.W. Grainger has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell) right now. This means that ASHTY's earnings estimate revision activity has been more impressive, so investors should feel comfortable with its improving analyst outlook. 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.

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.

ASHTY currently has a forward P/E ratio of 15.42, while GWW has a forward P/E of 25. We also note that ASHTY has a PEG ratio of 1.44. 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. GWW currently has a PEG ratio of 2.65.

Another notable valuation metric for ASHTY is its P/B ratio of 3.49. The P/B is a method of comparing a stock's market value to its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. By comparison, GWW has a P/B of 13.43.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to ASHTY's Value grade of B and GWW's Value grade of C.

ASHTY stands above GWW thanks to its solid earnings outlook, and based on these valuation figures, we also feel that ASHTY 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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