Should Value Investors Buy Associated British Foods (ASBFY) Stock?

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.

Considering these trends, value investing is clearly one of the most preferred ways to find strong stocks in any type of market. Value investors use tried-and-true metrics and fundamental analysis to find companies that they believe are undervalued at their current share price levels.

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 company value investors might notice is Associated British Foods (ASBFY). ASBFY is currently holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and a Value grade of A. The stock holds a P/E ratio of 11.44, while its industry has an average P/E of 15.98. Over the past year, ASBFY's Forward P/E has been as high as 14.26 and as low as 9.40, with a median of 12.02.

Another notable valuation metric for ASBFY is its P/B ratio of 1.41. 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 stock's P/B looks attractive against its industry's average P/B of 1.98. Over the past 12 months, ASBFY's P/B has been as high as 1.85 and as low as 1.18, with a median of 1.54.

If you're looking for another solid Food - Miscellaneous value stock, take a look at United Natural Foods (UNFI). UNFI is a # 2 (Buy) stock with a Value score of A.

Additionally, United Natural Foods has a P/B ratio of 0.97 while its industry's price-to-book ratio sits at 1.98. For UNFI, this valuation metric has been as high as 1.27, as low as 0.32, with a median of 0.76 over the past year.

These are just a handful of the figures considered in Associated British Foods and United Natural Foods'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 ASBFY and UNFI is an impressive value stock right now.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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