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 company value investors might notice is U.S. Concrete (USCR). USCR 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 14.92 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 24.88. Over the past 52 weeks, USCR’s Forward P/E has been as high as 62.48 and as low as 3.52, with a median of 13.81.
Investors should also recognize that USCR has a P/B ratio of 1.20. The P/B ratio is used to compare a stock’s market value with 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 2.59. USCR’s P/B has been as high as 2.59 and as low as 0.44, with a median of 1.25, over the past year.
Value investors also love the P/S ratio, which is calculated by simply dividing a stock’s price with the company’s sales. This is a prefered metric because revenue can’t really be manipulated, so sales are often a truer performance indicator. USCR has a P/S ratio of 0.33. This compares to its industry’s average P/S of 0.84.
These are just a handful of the figures considered in U.S. Concrete’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 USCR is an impressive value stock right now.
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U S Concrete, Inc. (USCR): Free Stock Analysis Report
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