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Investors with an interest in Banks - Midwest stocks have likely encountered both Associated Banc-Corp (ASB) and Huntington Bancshares (HBAN). But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? Let's take a closer look.

Everyone has their own methods for finding great value opportunities, but our model includes pairing an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system with a strong Zacks Rank. The Zacks Rank favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.

Currently, Associated Banc-Corp has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Huntington Bancshares has a Zacks Rank of #5 (Strong Sell). Investors should feel comfortable knowing that ASB likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than HBAN has recently. But this is only part of the picture 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.

ASB currently has a forward P/E ratio of 9.55, while HBAN has a forward P/E of 10.94. We also note that ASB has a PEG ratio of 2.10. This popular figure is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also considers a company's expected EPS growth rate. HBAN currently has a PEG ratio of 2.45.

Another notable valuation metric for ASB is its P/B ratio of 0.77. 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, HBAN has a P/B of 1.10.

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

ASB stands above HBAN thanks to its solid earnings outlook, and based on these valuation figures, we also feel that ASB is the superior value option right now.

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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.