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Are Investors Undervaluing ArcBest (ARCB) 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 fundamental analysis and traditional valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are being undervalued by the market at large.

Zacks has developed the innovative Style Scores system to highlight stocks with specific traits. For example, value investors will be interested in stocks with great grades in the "Value" category. When paired with a high Zacks Rank, "A" grades in the Value category are among the strongest value stocks on the market today.

One stock to keep an eye on is ArcBest (ARCB - Free Report) . ARCB is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and an A for Value. The stock holds a P/E ratio of 9.24, while its industry has an average P/E of 12.53. Over the last 12 months, ARCB's Forward P/E has been as high as 28.44 and as low as 9.24, with a median of 14.45.

Another valuation metric that we should highlight is ARCB's P/B ratio of 1.30. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. This stock's P/B looks solid versus its industry's average P/B of 2.08. Within the past 52 weeks, ARCB's P/B has been as high as 1.95 and as low as 1.21, with a median of 1.49.

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. ARCB has a P/S ratio of 0.3. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.86.

Finally, we should also recognize that ARCB has a P/CF ratio of 4.85. This metric focuses on a firm's operating cash flow and is often used to find stocks that are undervalued based on the strength of their cash outlook. This company's current P/CF looks solid when compared to its industry's average P/CF of 6.99. ARCB's P/CF has been as high as 8.06 and as low as 4.60, with a median of 6.02, 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 ArcBest is likely being undervalued right now. Considering this, as well as the strength of its earnings outlook, ARCB feels like a great value stock at the moment.


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