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.
Looking at the history of these trends, perhaps none is more beloved than value investing. This strategy simply looks to identify companies that are being undervalued by the broader market. 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 Photronics (PLAB). PLAB is currently sporting a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and an A for Value. The stock is trading with a P/E ratio of 11.02, which compares to its industry's average of 11.12. Over the past 52 weeks, PLAB's Forward P/E has been as high as 12.75 and as low as 7.90, with a median of 10.22.
Another notable valuation metric for PLAB is its P/B ratio of 0.87. 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 company's current P/B looks solid when compared to its industry's average P/B of 0.95. PLAB's P/B has been as high as 1.20 and as low as 0.71, with a median of 0.91, over the past year.
These figures are just a handful of the metrics value investors tend to look at, but they help show that Photronics is likely being undervalued right now. Considering this, as well as the strength of its earnings outlook, PLAB feels like a great value stock at the moment.
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Photronics, Inc. (PLAB): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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