Investors looking for stocks in the Banks - Foreign sector might want to consider either Woori Bank (WF) or National Australia Bank Ltd. (NABZY). 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.

Woori Bank has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while National Australia Bank Ltd. has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now. This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that WF is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. 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.

Our Value category grades stocks based on a number of key metrics, including the tried-and-true P/E ratio, the P/S ratio, earnings yield, and cash flow per share, as well as a variety of other fundamentals that value investors frequently use.

WF currently has a forward P/E ratio of 6.72, while NABZY has a forward P/E of 16.95. We also note that WF has a PEG ratio of 0.68. 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. NABZY currently has a PEG ratio of 3.20.

Another notable valuation metric for WF is its P/B ratio of 0.63. 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, NABZY has a P/B of 2.12.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to WF's Value grade of A and NABZY's Value grade of D.

WF is currently sporting an improving earnings outlook, which makes it stick out in our Zacks Rank model. And, based on the above valuation metrics, we feel that WF is likely the superior value option right now.

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Woori Bank (WF):Free Stock Analysis Report

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

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