ZION Or BOH: Which Is The Better Value Stock Right Now?

Investors with an interest in Banks - West stocks have likely encountered both Zions (ZION) and Bank of Hawaii (BOH). 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 Zacks Rank favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.

Currently, Zions has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Bank of Hawaii has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that ZION has an improving earnings outlook. 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.

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.

ZION currently has a forward P/E ratio of 11.56, while BOH has a forward P/E of 14.79. We also note that ZION has a PEG ratio of 1.43. 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. BOH currently has a PEG ratio of 1.97.

Another notable valuation metric for ZION is its P/B ratio of 1.41. 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, BOH has a P/B of 2.72.

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

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