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Should Value Investors Buy Brighthouse Financial (BHF) 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.

Considering these trends, value investing is clearly one of the most preferred ways to find strong stocks in any type of market. Value investors use fundamental analysis and traditional valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are being undervalued by the market at large.

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 value investors might notice is Brighthouse Financial (BHF - Free Report) . BHF is currently holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and a Value grade of A. The stock holds a P/E ratio of 2.85, while its industry has an average P/E of 7.53. BHF's Forward P/E has been as high as 8 and as low as 1.65, with a median of 3.14, all within the past year.

Investors will also notice that BHF has a PEG ratio of 0.39. 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. BHF's PEG compares to its industry's average PEG of 0.77. Over the past 52 weeks, BHF's PEG has been as high as 0.74 and as low as 0.34, with a median of 0.39.

Value investors also use the P/S ratio. The P/S ratio is is calculated as price divided by sales. This is a prefered metric because revenue can't really be manipulated, so sales are often a truer performance indicator. BHF has a P/S ratio of 0.21. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.6.

These figures are just a handful of the metrics value investors tend to look at, but they help show that Brighthouse Financial is likely being undervalued right now. Considering this, as well as the strength of its earnings outlook, BHF feels like a great value stock at the moment.


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