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Should Value Investors Buy Old Republic International (ORI) Stock?

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Here at Zacks, our focus is on the proven Zacks Rank system, which emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find great stocks. Nevertheless, we are always paying attention to the latest value, growth, and momentum trends to underscore strong picks.

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 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 Old Republic International (ORI - Free Report) . ORI is currently holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and a Value grade of A. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 11.24 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 11.26. Over the past year, ORI's Forward P/E has been as high as 14.93 and as low as 8.86, with a median of 10.99.

Value investors also frequently use the P/S ratio. This metric is found by dividing a stock's price with the company's revenue. This is a prefered metric because revenue can't really be manipulated, so sales are often a truer performance indicator. ORI has a P/S ratio of 0.92. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.18.

Finally, investors should note that ORI has a P/CF ratio of 4.74. This figure highlights a company's operating cash flow and can be used to find firms that are undervalued when considering their impressive cash outlook. This company's current P/CF looks solid when compared to its industry's average P/CF of 14.51. Over the past 52 weeks, ORI's P/CF has been as high as 141.88 and as low as 3.92, with a median of 16.02.

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


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