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Are Investors Undervaluing American Public Education (APEI) Right Now?

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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.

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 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 American Public Education (APEI - Free Report) . APEI is currently holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and a Value grade of A. The stock holds a P/E ratio of 22.43, while its industry has an average P/E of 31.90. Over the last 12 months, APEI's Forward P/E has been as high as 40.99 and as low as 17.19, with a median of 26.08.

APEI is also sporting a PEG ratio of 1.71. This figure is similar to the commonly-used P/E ratio, with the PEG ratio also factoring in a company's expected earnings growth rate. APEI's PEG compares to its industry's average PEG of 2.31. APEI's PEG has been as high as 1.78 and as low as 1.35, with a median of 1.70, all within the past year.

These figures are just a handful of the metrics value investors tend to look at, but they help show that American Public Education is likely being undervalued right now. Considering this, as well as the strength of its earnings outlook, APEI feels like a great value stock at the moment.


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