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Zacks.com featured highlights include: Covenant Transportation, Kulicke and Soffa, TrueBlue, Haverty Furniture and Graphic Packaging

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – February 22, 2018 - Stocks in this week’s article Covenant Transportation Group, Inc. , Kulicke and Soffa Industries, Inc. (KLIC - Free Report) , TrueBlue, Inc. (TBI - Free Report) , Haverty Furniture Companies, Inc. (HVT - Free Report) and Graphic Packaging Holding Company (GPK - Free Report) .

5 Value Stocks with Alluring EV/EBITDA Ratios to Own Now

Value investors generally tend to cling to the price-to-earnings (P/E) strategy while seeking stocks that are trading at attractive prices. P/E, without a shadow of a doubt, is the most popular multiple used by investors for evaluating the fair market value of a stock. But even this ubiquitously used equity valuation multiple is not devoid of shortcomings.

EV/EBITDA is a Better Option, But Why?

Although the widespread use of P/E stems from its simplicity, a more-complicated metric called EV/EBITDA is sometimes viewed as a better approach as it offers a clearer picture of a company’s valuation and earnings potential. Also known as the enterprise multiple, EV/EBITDA determines the total value of a firm while P/E just considers its equity portion.

EV/EBITDA is 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, its debt and preferred stock minus cash and cash equivalents. Simply put, it is the total value of a firm.

EBITDA, the other element of the ratio, gives a clearer picture of a company’s profitability as it removes the impact of non-cash expenses like depreciation and amortization that depress net earnings. It is also often used as a proxy for cash flows.

Just like P/E, the lower the EV/EBITDA ratio, the more alluring it is. A low EV/EBITDA ratio could be a sign that a stock is potentially undervalued.

Unlike P/E ratio, EV/EBITDA takes debt on a company’s balance sheet into account. Due to this reason, EV/EBITDA is generally used to value potential acquisition targets as it shows the amount of debt the acquirer has to bear. Stocks with a low EV/EBITDA multiple could be seen as attractive takeover candidates.

Another limitation of P/E is that it can’t be used to value a loss-making entity. A firm’s earnings are also subject to accounting estimates and management manipulation. On the other hand, EV/EBITDA is difficult to manipulate and also can be used to value entities that have negative net earnings but are positive on the EBITDA front.

EV/EBITDA is also a useful tool in evaluating 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/EBITDA has its downsides too. It alone can’t conclusively determine a stock’s inherent potential and future performance. The ratio varies across industries and is usually not appropriate while comparing stocks in different industries given their diverse capital spending requirements.

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

For the rest of this Screen of the Week article please visit Zacks.com at: https://www.zacks.com/stock/news/293062/5-value-stocks-with-alluring-evebitda-ratios-to-own-now

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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