Investors looking for stocks in the Banks - Major Regional sector might want to consider either Truist Financial Corporation (TFC) or Northern Trust Corporation (NTRS). 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.

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 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.

Both Truist Financial Corporation and Northern Trust Corporation have a Zacks Rank of # 2 (Buy) right now. Investors should feel comfortable knowing that both of these stocks have an improving earnings outlook since the Zacks Rank favors companies that have witnessed positive analyst estimate revisions. But this is only part of the picture for value investors.

Value investors analyze a variety of traditional, tried-and-true metrics to help find companies that they believe are undervalued at their 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.

TFC currently has a forward P/E ratio of 10.78, while NTRS has a forward P/E of 12.74. We also note that TFC has a PEG ratio of 1.51. 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. NTRS currently has a PEG ratio of 1.61.

Another notable valuation metric for TFC is its P/B ratio of 0.99. 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, NTRS has a P/B of 1.75.

Based on these metrics and many more, TFC holds a Value grade of B, while NTRS has a Value grade of C.

Both TFC and NTRS are impressive stocks with solid earnings outlooks, but based on these valuation figures, we feel that TFC is the superior value option right now.

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Truist Financial Corporation (TFC) : Free Stock Analysis Report

Northern Trust Corporation (NTRS) : Free Stock Analysis Report

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

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