Investors interested in stocks from the Financial - Investment Management sector have probably already heard of Principal Financial (PFG) and SEI Investments (SEIC). 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.

The best way to find great value stocks is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system. The proven Zacks Rank puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

Principal Financial and SEI Investments are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (Buy) and #3 (Hold), respectively, right now. This means that PFG's earnings estimate revision activity has been more impressive, so investors should feel comfortable with its improving analyst outlook. But this is only part of the picture for value investors.

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 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.

PFG currently has a forward P/E ratio of 9.69, while SEIC has a forward P/E of 16.39. We also note that PFG has a PEG ratio of 0.63. 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. SEIC currently has a PEG ratio of 1.37.

Another notable valuation metric for PFG is its P/B ratio of 1.05. 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, SEIC has a P/B of 4.78.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to PFG's Value grade of A and SEIC's Value grade of C.

PFG sticks out from SEIC in both our Zacks Rank and Style Scores models, so value investors will likely feel that PFG is the better option right now.

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Principal Financial Group, Inc. (PFG) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
SEI Investments Company (SEIC) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
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