AGRO vs. CTVA: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

Investors interested in stocks from the Agriculture - Operations sector have probably already heard of Adecoagro (AGRO) and Corteva, Inc. (CTVA). But which of these two stocks is more attractive to value investors? We'll need to take a closer look to find out.

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 puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

Adecoagro has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Corteva, Inc. has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now. This means that AGRO's earnings estimate revision activity has been more impressive, so investors should feel comfortable with its improving analyst outlook. 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.

AGRO currently has a forward P/E ratio of 10.99, while CTVA has a forward P/E of 23.54. We also note that AGRO has a PEG ratio of 0.31. This popular figure is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also considers a company's expected EPS growth rate. CTVA currently has a PEG ratio of 2.92.

Another notable valuation metric for AGRO is its P/B ratio of 0.85. 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, CTVA has a P/B of 2.37.

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

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

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Adecoagro S.A. (AGRO) : Free Stock Analysis Report

Corteva, Inc. (CTVA) : Free Stock Analysis Report

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

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