Investors interested in stocks from the Outsourcing sector have probably already heard of Barrett Business Services (BBSI) and Paychex (PAYX). But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? 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 proven Zacks Rank emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.

Barrett Business Services has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Paychex has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now. The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that BBSI has an improving earnings outlook. But this is just one piece of the puzzle for value investors.

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.

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.

BBSI currently has a forward P/E ratio of 17.97, while PAYX has a forward P/E of 26.45. We also note that BBSI has a PEG ratio of 1.20. 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. PAYX currently has a PEG ratio of 3.49.

Another notable valuation metric for BBSI is its P/B ratio of 4.70. Investors use the P/B ratio to look at a stock's market value versus its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. By comparison, PAYX has a P/B of 12.49.

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

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

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Barrett Business Services, Inc. (BBSI) : Free Stock Analysis Report

Paychex, Inc. (PAYX) : Free Stock Analysis Report