ZTO vs. CHRW: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

Investors interested in stocks from the Transportation - Services sector have probably already heard of ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. (ZTO) and C.H. Robinson Worldwide (CHRW). 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 emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.

Currently, both ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. and C.H. Robinson Worldwide are holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy). This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that these stocks have improving earnings outlooks. But this is just one piece of the puzzle for value investors.

Value investors are also interested in a number of tried-and-true valuation metrics that help show when 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.

ZTO currently has a forward P/E ratio of 13.14, while CHRW has a forward P/E of 28.11. We also note that ZTO has a PEG ratio of 1.21. 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. CHRW currently has a PEG ratio of 1.75.

Another notable valuation metric for ZTO is its P/B ratio of 1.52. The P/B is a method of comparing a stock's market value to its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. By comparison, CHRW has a P/B of 10.63.

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

Both ZTO and CHRW are impressive stocks with solid earnings outlooks, but based on these valuation figures, we feel that ZTO is the superior value option right now.

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ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. (ZTO): Free Stock Analysis Report

C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. (CHRW): Free Stock Analysis Report

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

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