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Should Value Investors Buy Lazard (LAZ) 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, value investing is easily one of the most popular ways to find great stocks in any market environment. Value investors use tried-and-true metrics and fundamental analysis to find companies that they believe are undervalued at their current share price levels.

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 company value investors might notice is Lazard (LAZ - Free Report) . LAZ is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and an A for Value. The stock is trading with a P/E ratio of 10.58, which compares to its industry's average of 12.24. LAZ's Forward P/E has been as high as 14.02 and as low as 5.48, with a median of 11.09, all within 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. Some people prefer this metric because sales are harder to manipulate on an income statement. This means it could be a truer performance indicator. LAZ has a P/S ratio of 1.57. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 2.29.

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


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