MMM vs. HON: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

Investors looking for stocks in the Diversified Operations sector might want to consider either 3M (MMM) or Honeywell International Inc. (HON). 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 Zacks Rank favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.

Currently, 3M has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Honeywell International Inc. has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). Investors should feel comfortable knowing that MMM likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than HON has recently. But this is just one piece of the puzzle for value investors.

Value investors also try to analyze a wide range of traditional figures and metrics to help determine whether a company is undervalued at its current share price levels.

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.

MMM currently has a forward P/E ratio of 13.55, while HON has a forward P/E of 22.22. We also note that MMM has a PEG ratio of 1.43. 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. HON currently has a PEG ratio of 2.30.

Another notable valuation metric for MMM is its P/B ratio of 5.58. 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, HON has a P/B of 6.90.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to MMM's Value grade of B and HON's Value grade of D.

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

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