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ITUB or IBN: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

Investors looking for stocks in the Banks - Foreign sector might want to consider either Banco Itau (ITUB) or ICICI Bank Limited (IBN). 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 emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.

Currently, Banco Itau has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while ICICI Bank Limited has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that ITUB is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. However, value investors will care about much more than just this.

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.

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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.

ITUB currently has a forward P/E ratio of 7.49, while IBN has a forward P/E of 17.98. We also note that ITUB has a PEG ratio of 0.60. 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. IBN currently has a PEG ratio of 2.05.

Another notable valuation metric for ITUB is its P/B ratio of 1.48. 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, IBN has a P/B of 2.91.

These metrics, and several others, help ITUB earn a Value grade of A, while IBN has been given a Value grade of D.

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

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Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. (ITUB) : Free Stock Analysis Report

ICICI Bank Limited (IBN) : Free Stock Analysis Report

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Zacks Investment Research