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Zacks.com featured highlights include: ODP Corp, LabCorp, Boise Cascade, Koppers Holdings and Greif

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – December 18, 2020 – Stocks in this week’s article are The ODP Corporation (ODP - Free Report) , Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (LH - Free Report) , Boise Cascade Co. (BCC - Free Report) , Koppers Holdings Inc. (KOP - Free Report) and Greif, Inc. (GEF - Free Report) .

Pick These 5 Bargain Stocks with Alluring EV-to-EBITDA Ratios

Price-to-earnings (P/E), due to its apparent simplicity, is the most commonly used metric in the value investing world. It is preferred by many investors to handpick stocks trading at a bargain. However, even this straightforward, broadly used valuation metric suffers a few downsides.

What Makes EV-to-EBITDA a Better Option?

Although P/E is hands down the most widely used equity valuation ratio in the market, a relatively less used metric called EV-to-EBITDA is often viewed as a better option as it offers a clearer picture of a company’s valuation and earnings potential. Unlike P/E that solely considers a company’s equity portion, EV-to-EBITDA determines its total value.

EV-to-EBITDA is essentially the enterprise value (EV) of a stock divided by its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA). EV is the sum of a company’s market capitalization, debt and preferred stock minus cash and cash equivalents.

The other element of the ratio, EBITDA, gives the true picture of a company’s profitability as it removes the impact of non-cash expenses like depreciation and amortization that reduce net earnings.

Typically, the lower the EV-to-EBITDA ratio, the more appealing it is. A low EV-to-EBITDA ratio could be a sign that a stock is potentially undervalued.

However, unlike P/E ratio, EV-to-EBITDA takes into account the debt on a company’s balance sheet. For this reason, EV-to-EBITDA is usually used to value possible acquisition targets. Stocks with a low EV-to-EBITDA multiple could be seen as potential takeover candidates.

Another key drawback of P/E is that it cannot be used to value a loss-making entity. A firm’s earnings are also subject to accounting estimates and management manipulation. In contrast, EV-to-EBITDA is harder to manipulate and can also be used to value companies that have negative net earnings but are positive on the EBITDA front.

EV-to-EBITDA is also a useful yardstick in measuring the value of firms that are highly leveraged and have a high degree of depreciation. Moreover, it can be used to compare companies with different levels of debt.

But EV-to-EBITDA has its limitations too. The ratio varies across industries (a high-growth industry typically has higher multiple and vice versa) and is usually not appropriate while comparing stocks in different industries given their diverse capital requirements.

Hence, instead of just relying on EV-to-EBITDA, you can club it with the other key ratios such as price-to-book (P/B), P/E and price-to-sales (P/S) to achieve the desired outcome.

For the rest of this Screen of the Week article please visit Zacks.com at: https://www.zacks.com/stock/news/1176286/pick-these-5-bargain-stocks-with-alluring-ev-to-ebitda-ratios

Disclosure: Officers, directors and/or employees of Zacks Investment Research may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material. An affiliated investment advisory firm may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material.

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Strong Stocks that Should Be in the News

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