Here at Zacks, our focus is on the proven Zacks Rank system, which emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find great stocks. Nevertheless, we are always paying attention to the latest value, growth, and momentum trends to underscore strong picks.
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 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 company to watch right now is Gibraltar Industries (ROCK). ROCK is currently sporting a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and an A for Value. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 13.68 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 15.79. ROCK's Forward P/E has been as high as 15.52 and as low as 9.82, with a median of 12.52, all within the past year.
Investors will also notice that ROCK has a PEG ratio of 0.91. 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. ROCK's PEG compares to its industry's average PEG of 1.32. ROCK's PEG has been as high as 0.97 and as low as 0.77, with a median of 0.90, all within 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. This is a preferred metric because revenue can't really be manipulated, so sales are often a truer performance indicator. ROCK has a P/S ratio of 0.9. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.27.
Finally, we should also recognize that ROCK has a P/CF ratio of 11.72. This metric focuses on a firm's operating cash flow and is often used to find stocks that are undervalued based on the strength of their cash outlook. ROCK's P/CF compares to its industry's average P/CF of 13.83. Over the past 52 weeks, ROCK's P/CF has been as high as 16.53 and as low as 9.37, with a median of 11.78.
These figures are just a handful of the metrics value investors tend to look at, but they help show that Gibraltar Industries is likely being undervalued right now. Considering this, as well as the strength of its earnings outlook, ROCK feels like a great value stock at the moment.
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Gibraltar Industries, Inc. (ROCK): Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).