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Should Value Investors Buy Boyd Gaming (BYD) 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.

Looking at the history of these trends, perhaps none is more beloved than value investing. This strategy simply looks to identify companies that are being undervalued by the broader market. 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 company to watch right now is Boyd Gaming (BYD - Free Report) . BYD is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and an A for Value. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 11.33 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 14.24. Over the past 52 weeks, BYD's Forward P/E has been as high as 33.73 and as low as 11.33, with a median of 24.75.

We also note that BYD holds a PEG ratio of 0.76. This popular figure is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also considers a company's expected EPS growth rate. BYD's PEG compares to its industry's average PEG of 1.02. Within the past year, BYD's PEG has been as high as 1.67 and as low as 0.76, with a median of 1.06.

We should also highlight that BYD has a P/B ratio of 2. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. BYD's current P/B looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/B of 2.77. BYD's P/B has been as high as 4.08 and as low as 2, with a median of 3.51, over the past year.

Value investors also love the P/S ratio, which is calculated by simply dividing a stock's price with the company's sales. This is a prefered metric because revenue can't really be manipulated, so sales are often a truer performance indicator. BYD has a P/S ratio of 0.97. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.44.

Finally, investors will want to recognize that BYD has a P/CF ratio of 5.87. This metric takes into account a company's operating cash flow and can be used to find stocks that are undervalued based on their solid cash outlook. This company's current P/CF looks solid when compared to its industry's average P/CF of 6.45. BYD's P/CF has been as high as 12.06 and as low as 5.87, with a median of 9.68, 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 Boyd Gaming is likely being undervalued right now. Considering this, as well as the strength of its earnings outlook, BYD feels like a great value stock at the moment.


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