Investors looking for stocks in the Chemical – Diversified sector might want to consider either Arkema SA (ARKAY) or FMC (FMC). 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 emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.

Arkema SA has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while FMC has a Zacks Rank of #5 (Strong Sell) right now. This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that ARKAY is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

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.

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.

ARKAY currently has a forward P/E ratio of 12.58, while FMC has a forward P/E of 13.83. We also note that ARKAY has a PEG ratio of 0.42. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. FMC currently has a PEG ratio of 1.26.

Another notable valuation metric for ARKAY is its P/B ratio of 1.48. 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, FMC has a P/B of 3.86.

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

ARKAY has seen stronger estimate revision activity and sports more attractive valuation metrics than FMC, so it seems like value investors will conclude that ARKAY is the superior option right now.

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