Here at Zacks, we focus on our proven ranking system, which places an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, to find winning stocks. But we also understand that investors develop their own strategies, so we are constantly looking at the latest trends in value, growth, and momentum to find strong companies for our readers.
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 a variety of methods, including tried-and-true valuation metrics, to find these stocks.
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.
One stock to keep an eye on is Mayville Engineering (MEC). MEC is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as a Value grade of A. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 12.57 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 18.63. Over the past year, MEC's Forward P/E has been as high as 49.70 and as low as 11.16, with a median of 19.39.
Value investors also frequently use the P/S ratio. This metric is found by dividing a stock's price with the company's revenue. Some people prefer this metric because sales are harder to manipulate on an income statement. This means it could be a truer performance indicator. MEC has a P/S ratio of 0.47. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.3.
Finally, investors will want to recognize that MEC has a P/CF ratio of 4.36. This data point considers a firm's operating cash flow and is frequently used to find companies that are undervalued when considering their solid cash outlook. This stock's P/CF looks attractive against its industry's average P/CF of 13.58. Over the past 52 weeks, MEC's P/CF has been as high as 9.30 and as low as 3.93, with a median of 7.16.
These figures are just a handful of the metrics value investors tend to look at, but they help show that Mayville Engineering is likely being undervalued right now. Considering this, as well as the strength of its earnings outlook, MEC feels like a great value stock at the moment.
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Mayville Engineering Company, Inc. (MEC): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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