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Should Value Investors Buy Group 1 Automotive (GPI) Stock?

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While the proven Zacks Rank places an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find strong stocks, we also know that investors tend to develop their own individual strategies. With this in mind, we are always looking at value, growth, and momentum trends to discover great companies.

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.

On top of the Zacks Rank, investors can also look at our innovative Style Scores system to find stocks with specific traits. For example, value investors will want to focus on the "Value" category. Stocks with high Zacks Ranks and "A" grades for Value will be some of the highest-quality value stocks on the market today.

One stock to keep an eye on is Group 1 Automotive (GPI - Free Report) . GPI is currently holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and a Value grade of A. The stock is trading with a P/E ratio of 5.80, which compares to its industry's average of 7.36. Over the past 52 weeks, GPI's Forward P/E has been as high as 10.50 and as low as 5.65, with a median of 8.10.

Investors should also recognize that GPI has a P/B ratio of 0.86. 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 attractive against its industry's average P/B of 1.27. Over the past year, GPI's P/B has been as high as 1.61 and as low as 0.84, with a median of 1.25.

Value investors also frequently use the P/S ratio. This metric is found by dividing a stock's price with the company's revenue. This is a prefered metric because revenue can't really be manipulated, so sales are often a truer performance indicator. GPI has a P/S ratio of 0.08. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.17.

Finally, investors should note that GPI has a P/CF ratio of 3.24. This figure highlights a company's operating cash flow and can be used to find firms that are undervalued when considering their impressive cash outlook. GPI's P/CF compares to its industry's average P/CF of 4.54. Within the past 12 months, GPI's P/CF has been as high as 8.16 and as low as 3.15, with a median of 4.94.

These are just a handful of the figures considered in Group 1 Automotive'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 GPI is an impressive value stock right now.


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