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Should Value Investors Buy Ethan Allen (ETH) Stock?

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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 a variety of methods, including tried-and-true valuation metrics, to find these stocks.

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 company to watch right now is Ethan Allen . ETH is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as a Value grade of A. The stock is trading with a P/E ratio of 13.37, which compares to its industry's average of 18.56. ETH's Forward P/E has been as high as 302.79 and as low as 7.13, with a median of 15.22, all within the past year.

Value investors also use the P/S ratio. The P/S ratio is is calculated as price divided by sales. Some people prefer this metric because sales are harder to manipulate on an income statement. This means it could be a truer performance indicator. ETH has a P/S ratio of 0.73. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.75.

Finally, investors should note that ETH has a P/CF ratio of 19.98. 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 stock's P/CF looks attractive against its industry's average P/CF of 21.94. ETH's P/CF has been as high as 21.06 and as low as 6.03, with a median of 10.08, all within the past year.

Value investors will likely look at more than just these metrics, but the above data helps show that Ethan Allen is likely undervalued currently. And when considering the strength of its earnings outlook, ETH sticks out at as one of the market's strongest value stocks.

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