HAYW vs. MAIR: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

Investors with an interest in Electronics - Miscellaneous Products stocks have likely encountered both Hayward Holdings, Inc. (HAYW) and Madison Air Solutions Corporation (MAIR). But which of these two companies is the best option for those looking for undervalued stocks? Let's take a closer look.

Everyone has their own methods for finding great value opportunities, but our model includes pairing an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system with a strong Zacks Rank. The Zacks Rank is a proven strategy that targets companies with positive earnings estimate revision trends, while our Style Scores work to grade companies based on specific traits.

Both Hayward Holdings, Inc. and Madison Air Solutions Corporation have a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) right now. The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that both of these companies have improving earnings outlooks. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

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.

The Style Score Value grade factors in a variety of key fundamental metrics, including the popular P/E ratio, P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a number of other key stats that are commonly used by value investors.

HAYW currently has a forward P/E ratio of 17.36, while MAIR has a forward P/E of 25.35. We also note that HAYW has a PEG ratio of 1.39. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. MAIR currently has a PEG ratio of 1.45.

Another notable valuation metric for HAYW is its P/B ratio of 2. 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, MAIR has a P/B of 3.86.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to HAYW's Value grade of B and MAIR's Value grade of C.

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

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

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