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LINC vs. AFYA: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

Investors looking for stocks in the Schools sector might want to consider either Lincoln Educational Services Corporation (LINC) or Afya (AFYA). But which of these two companies is the best option for those looking for undervalued stocks? Let's take a closer look.

We have found that the best way to discover great value opportunities is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with a great grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system. The Zacks Rank favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.

Lincoln Educational Services Corporation has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Afya has a Zacks Rank of #5 (Strong Sell) right now. Investors should feel comfortable knowing that LINC likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than AFYA has recently. But this is just one piece of the puzzle for value investors.

Value investors also try to analyze a wide range of traditional figures and metrics to help determine whether a company is undervalued at its current share price levels.

Our Value category highlights undervalued companies by looking at a variety of key metrics, including the popular P/E ratio, as well as the P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a variety of other fundamentals that have been used by value investors for years.

LINC currently has a forward P/E ratio of 8.16, while AFYA has a forward P/E of 23.90. We also note that LINC has a PEG ratio of 0.54. 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. AFYA currently has a PEG ratio of 0.97.

Another notable valuation metric for LINC is its P/B ratio of 1.90. The P/B ratio is used to compare a stock's market value with its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. For comparison, AFYA has a P/B of 3.14.

These metrics, and several others, help LINC earn a Value grade of A, while AFYA has been given a Value grade of D.

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


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Lincoln Educational Services Corporation (LINC) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Afya Limited (AFYA) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
 
Zacks Investment Research

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