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.
Considering these trends, value investing is clearly one of the most preferred ways to find strong stocks in any type of market. 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 Sally Beauty (SBH). SBH is currently holding a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and a Value grade of A. The stock has a Forward P/E ratio of 7.76. This compares to its industry's average Forward P/E of 14.41. Over the past 52 weeks, SBH's Forward P/E has been as high as 8.12 and as low as 4.04, with a median of 5.53.
Value investors also love the P/S ratio, which is calculated by simply dividing a stock's price with the company's sales. This is a popular metric because sales are harder to manipulate on an income statement, so they are often considered a better performance indicator. SBH has a P/S ratio of 0.38. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.57.
These figures are just a handful of the metrics value investors tend to look at, but they help show that Sally Beauty is likely being undervalued right now. Considering this, as well as the strength of its earnings outlook, SBH feels like a great value stock at the moment.
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Sally Beauty Holdings, Inc. (SBH): Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).