Investors with an interest in Food - Miscellaneous stocks have likely encountered both Marine Harvest ASA (MHGVY) and Nestle SA (NSRGY). But which of these two stocks offers value investors a better bang for their buck right now? We'll need to 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 proven Zacks Rank puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

Marine Harvest ASA has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Nestle SA has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell) right now. Investors should feel comfortable knowing that MHGVY likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than NSRGY has recently. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

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 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.

MHGVY currently has a forward P/E ratio of 12.64, while NSRGY has a forward P/E of 18.08. We also note that MHGVY has a PEG ratio of 1.48. This figure is similar to the commonly-used P/E ratio, with the PEG ratio also factoring in a company's expected earnings growth rate. NSRGY currently has a PEG ratio of 2.52.

Another notable valuation metric for MHGVY is its P/B ratio of 2.69. 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, NSRGY has a P/B of 6.81.

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

MHGVY 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 MHGVY is likely the superior value option right now.

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