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 rely on traditional forms of analysis on key valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are undervalued, leaving room for profits.
Luckily, Zacks has developed its own Style Scores system in an effort to find stocks with specific traits. Value investors will be interested in the system's "Value" category. Stocks with both "A" grades in the Value category and high Zacks Ranks are among the strongest value stocks on the market right now.
Federal Agricultural Mortgage (AGM) is a stock many investors are watching right now. AGM is currently sporting a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), as well as an A grade for Value. The stock has a Forward P/E ratio of 9.69. This compares to its industry's average Forward P/E of 25.20. AGM's Forward P/E has been as high as 12.42 and as low as 9.28, with a median of 10.72, all within the past year.
Value investors also use the P/S ratio. The P/S ratio is calculated as price divided by 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. AGM has a P/S ratio of 1.07. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.7.
Value investors will likely look at more than just these metrics, but the above data helps show that Federal Agricultural Mortgage is likely undervalued currently. And when considering the strength of its earnings outlook, AGM sticks out as one of the market's strongest value stocks.
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Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation (AGM): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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