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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, value investing is easily one of the most popular ways to find great stocks in any market environment. Value investors use fundamental analysis and traditional valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are being undervalued by the market at large.
On top of the Zacks Rank, investors can also look at our innovative Style Scores system to find stocks with specific traits. For example, value investors will want to focus on the "Value" category. Stocks with high Zacks Ranks and "A" grades for Value will be some of the highest-quality value stocks on the market today.
One stock to keep an eye on is Evertec (EVTC). EVTC is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as a Value grade of A. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 10.98 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 26.18. EVTC's Forward P/E has been as high as 14.36 and as low as 9.59, with a median of 11.57, all within the past year.
EVTC is also sporting a PEG ratio of 1.27. 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. EVTC's PEG compares to its industry's average PEG of 1.73. Over the past 52 weeks, EVTC's PEG has been as high as 1.85 and as low as 0.99, with a median of 1.32.
Another valuation metric that we should highlight is EVTC's P/B ratio of 4.53. 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. This stock's P/B looks solid versus its industry's average P/B of 9.07. Over the past 12 months, EVTC's P/B has been as high as 4.97 and as low as 3.89, with a median of 4.38.
Value investors also use the P/S ratio. The P/S ratio is is calculated as price divided by 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. EVTC has a P/S ratio of 2.77. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 2.84.
Finally, investors will want to recognize that EVTC has a P/CF ratio of 10.26. This data point considers a firm's operating cash flow and is frequently used to find companies that are undervalued when considering their solid cash outlook. EVTC's P/CF compares to its industry's average P/CF of 19.24. Within the past 12 months, EVTC's P/CF has been as high as 15.38 and as low as 9.22, with a median of 12.57.