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Is United States Cellular (USM) a Great Value Stock Right Now?

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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 rely on traditional forms of analysis on key valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are undervalued, leaving room for profits.

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.

United States Cellular (USM - Free Report) is a stock many investors are watching right now. USM is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy) and an A for Value.

Another notable valuation metric for USM is its P/B ratio of 0.59. The P/B ratio is used to compare a stock's market value with 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 1.69. USM's P/B has been as high as 0.75 and as low as 0.52, with a median of 0.63, over 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. USM has a P/S ratio of 0.66. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.3.

Finally, investors will want to recognize that USM has a P/CF ratio of 2.87. 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. USM's current P/CF looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/CF of 5.58. Over the past year, USM's P/CF has been as high as 3.88 and as low as 2.67, with a median of 3.19.

These are just a handful of the figures considered in United States Cellular'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 USM is an impressive value stock right now.


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