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.
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 tried-and-true metrics and fundamental analysis to find companies that they believe are undervalued at their current share price levels.
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.
Assurant (AIZ) is a stock many investors are watching right now. AIZ is currently holding a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and a Value grade of A.
We should also highlight that AIZ has a P/B ratio of 1.94. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. AIZ's current P/B looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/B of 2.18. Over the past 12 months, AIZ's P/B has been as high as 2.25 and as low as 1.71, with a median of 1.98.
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. AIZ has a P/S ratio of 0.9. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.12.
Investors could also keep in mind Ping An Insurance Co. of China (PNGAY), another Insurance - Multi line stock with a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy) and Value grade of A.
Additionally, Ping An Insurance Co. of China has a P/B ratio of 0.68 while its industry's price-to-book ratio sits at 2.18. For PNGAY, this valuation metric has been as high as 0.81, as low as 0.47, with a median of 0.61 over the past year.
These are just a handful of the figures considered in Assurant and Ping An Insurance Co. of China's great Value grade. Still, they help show that the stock is likely being undervalued at the moment. Add this to the strength of its earnings outlook, and we can clearly see that AIZ and PNGAY is an impressive value stock right now.
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Assurant, Inc. (AIZ): Free Stock Analysis Report Ping An Insurance Co. of China Ltd. (PNGAY): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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