Investors with an interest in Waste Removal Services stocks have likely encountered both Montrose Environmental (MEG) and Casella (CWST). 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 proven Zacks Rank puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

Right now, Montrose Environmental is sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Casella has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that MEG has an improving earnings outlook. 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.

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.

MEG currently has a forward P/E ratio of 13.06, while CWST has a forward P/E of 95.09. We also note that MEG has a PEG ratio of 0.36. 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. CWST currently has a PEG ratio of 3.69.

Another notable valuation metric for MEG is its P/B ratio of 1.12. 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, CWST has a P/B of 4.51.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to MEG's Value grade of A and CWST's Value grade of C.

MEG sticks out from CWST in both our Zacks Rank and Style Scores models, so value investors will likely feel that MEG is the better option right now.

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Montrose Environmental Group, Inc. (MEG) : Free Stock Analysis Report

Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (CWST) : Free Stock Analysis Report

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

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