CNX or CTRA: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

Investors looking for stocks in the Oil and Gas - Exploration and Production - United States sector might want to consider either CNX Resources Corporation. (CNX) or Coterra Energy (CTRA). 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 Zacks Rank favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.

CNX Resources Corporation. and Coterra Energy are sporting Zacks Ranks of #1 (Strong Buy) and #5 (Strong Sell), respectively, right now. Investors should feel comfortable knowing that CNX likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than CTRA has recently. But this is just one piece of the puzzle for value investors.

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.

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.

CNX currently has a forward P/E ratio of 15.63, while CTRA has a forward P/E of 19.17. We also note that CNX has a PEG ratio of 0.31. 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. CTRA currently has a PEG ratio of 0.81.

Another notable valuation metric for CNX is its P/B ratio of 1.26. 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, CTRA has a P/B of 1.86.

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

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

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CNX Resources Corporation. (CNX): Free Stock Analysis Report

Coterra Energy Inc. (CTRA): Free Stock Analysis Report

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

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