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Are Investors Undervaluing Quanex Building Products (NX) Right Now?

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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.

In addition to the Zacks Rank, investors looking for stocks with specific traits can utilize our Style Scores system. Of course, value investors will be most interested in the system's "Value" category. Stocks with "A" grades for Value and high Zacks Ranks are among the best value stocks available at any given moment.

One company value investors might notice is Quanex Building Products (NX - Free Report) . NX is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as an A grade for Value. The stock holds a P/E ratio of 12.95, while its industry has an average P/E of 17.19. Over the last 12 months, NX's Forward P/E has been as high as 23.21 and as low as 12.51, with a median of 17.26.

Value investors also love the P/S ratio, which is calculated by simply dividing a stock's price with the company's sales. This is a popular metric because sales are harder to manipulate on an income statement, so they are often considered a better performance indicator. NX has a P/S ratio of 0.87. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 2.02.

Finally, our model also underscores that NX has a P/CF ratio of 8.35. This data point considers a firm's operating cash flow and is frequently used to find companies that are undervalued when considering their solid cash outlook. This company's current P/CF looks solid when compared to its industry's average P/CF of 21.18. Over the past 52 weeks, NX's P/CF has been as high as 10.23 and as low as 3.72, with a median of 8.49.

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


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