NHYDY Or NWPX: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

Investors looking for stocks in the Metal Products - Procurement and Fabrication sector might want to consider either Norsk Hydro ASA NHYDY or Northwest Pipe Co. NWPX. But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? Let's take a closer look.

There are plenty of strategies for discovering value stocks, but we have found that pairing a strong Zacks Rank with an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system produces the best returns. The proven Zacks Rank emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.

Norsk Hydro ASA has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Northwest Pipe Co. has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now. The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that NHYDY has an improving earnings outlook. But this is just one piece of the puzzle 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 Style Score Value grade factors in a variety of key fundamental metrics, including the popular P/E ratio, P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a number of other key stats that are commonly used by value investors.

NHYDY currently has a forward P/E ratio of 10.48, while NWPX has a forward P/E of 15.17. We also note that NHYDY has a PEG ratio of 0.20. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. NWPX currently has a PEG ratio of 3.03.

Another notable valuation metric for NHYDY is its P/B ratio of 1.17. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. For comparison, NWPX has a P/B of 1.27.

Based on these metrics and many more, NHYDY holds a Value grade of A, while NWPX has a Value grade of C.

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

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