Investors looking for stocks in the Shoes and Retail Apparel sector might want to consider either Skechers (SKX) or Birkenstock (BIRK). But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? Let's 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 Zacks Rank is a proven strategy that targets companies with positive earnings estimate revision trends, while our Style Scores work to grade companies based on specific traits.

Currently, Skechers has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Birkenstock has a Zacks Rank of #5 (Strong Sell). The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that SKX has an improving earnings outlook. But this is just one piece of the puzzle 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.

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.

SKX currently has a forward P/E ratio of 14.36, while BIRK has a forward P/E of 32.68. We also note that SKX has a PEG ratio of 0.85. 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. BIRK currently has a PEG ratio of 1.15.

Another notable valuation metric for SKX is its P/B ratio of 2.17. 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, BIRK has a P/B of 3.81.

These metrics, and several others, help SKX earn a Value grade of A, while BIRK has been given a Value grade of F.

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

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Skechers U.S.A., Inc. (SKX) : Free Stock Analysis Report

Birkenstock Holding PLC (BIRK) : Free Stock Analysis Report

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