While the proven Zacks Rank places an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find strong stocks, we also know that investors tend to develop their own individual strategies. With this in mind, we are always looking at value, growth, and momentum trends to discover great companies.
Of these, perhaps no stock market trend is more popular than value investing, which is a strategy that has proven to be successful in all sorts of market environments. Value investors rely on traditional forms of analysis on key valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are undervalued, leaving room for profits.
Zacks has developed the innovative Style Scores system to highlight stocks with specific traits. For example, value investors will be interested in stocks with great grades in the "Value" category. When paired with a high Zacks Rank, "A" grades in the Value category are among the strongest value stocks on the market today.
One stock to keep an eye on is ADT (ADT). ADT is currently sporting a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), as well as an A grade for Value. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 9.49 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 11.79. Over the last 12 months, ADT's Forward P/E has been as high as 10.52 and as low as 8.31, with a median of 9.41.
Investors should also recognize that ADT has a P/B ratio of 1.95. 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. ADT's current P/B looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/B of 3.71. ADT's P/B has been as high as 2.01 and as low as 1.56, with a median of 1.82, over the past year.
Value investors also love the P/S ratio, which is calculated by simply dividing a stock's price with the company's sales. Some people prefer this metric because sales are harder to manipulate on an income statement. This means it could be a truer performance indicator. ADT has a P/S ratio of 1.06. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 2.05.
Finally, investors should note that ADT has a P/CF ratio of 3.87. This metric takes into account a company's operating cash flow and can be used to find stocks that are undervalued based on their solid cash outlook. ADT's current P/CF looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/CF of 10.47. ADT's P/CF has been as high as 4.21 and as low as 2.88, with a median of 3.83, all within the past year.
Value investors will likely look at more than just these metrics, but the above data helps show that ADT is likely undervalued currently. And when considering the strength of its earnings outlook, ADT sticks out as one of the market's strongest value stocks.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
