Here at Zacks, we focus on our proven ranking system, which places an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, to find winning stocks. But we also understand that investors develop their own strategies, so we are constantly looking at the latest trends in value, growth, and momentum to find strong companies for our readers.
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 use a variety of methods, including tried-and-true valuation metrics, to find these stocks.
In addition to the Zacks Rank, investors looking for stocks with specific traits can utilize our Style Scores system. Of course, value investors will be most interested in the system's "Value" category. Stocks with "A" grades for Value and high Zacks Ranks are among the best value stocks available at any given moment.
One stock to keep an eye on is BASF (BASFY). BASFY is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and an A for Value. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 11.32 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 13.32. Over the past 52 weeks, BASFY's Forward P/E has been as high as 12.03 and as low as 7.08, with a median of 10.25.
BASFY is also sporting a PEG ratio of 0.61. 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. BASFY's industry currently sports an average PEG of 1.70. Over the past 52 weeks, BASFY's PEG has been as high as 0.67 and as low as 0.44, with a median of 0.51.
Another notable valuation metric for BASFY is its P/B ratio of 1.02. 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. BASFY's current P/B looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/B of 2.06. Over the past 12 months, BASFY's P/B has been as high as 1.23 and as low as 0.70, with a median of 0.93.
Value investors also use the P/S ratio. The P/S ratio is is calculated as price divided by sales. This is a prefered metric because revenue can't really be manipulated, so sales are often a truer performance indicator. BASFY has a P/S ratio of 0.51. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.7.
These are only a few of the key metrics included in BASF's strong Value grade, but they help show that the stock is likely undervalued right now. When factoring in the strength of its earnings outlook, BASFY looks like an impressive value stock at the moment.
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