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Should Value Investors Buy PetroChina (PTR) 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.

On top of the Zacks Rank, investors can also look at our innovative Style Scores system to find stocks with specific traits. For example, value investors will want to focus on the "Value" category. Stocks with high Zacks Ranks and "A" grades for Value will be some of the highest-quality value stocks on the market today.

One stock to keep an eye on is PetroChina . PTR is currently holding a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy) and a Value grade of A. The stock holds a P/E ratio of 7.63, while its industry has an average P/E of 11.19. PTR's Forward P/E has been as high as 129.17 and as low as 7.38, with a median of 19.90, all within the past year.

We should also highlight that PTR has a P/B ratio of 0.42. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. This company's current P/B looks solid when compared to its industry's average P/B of 1.08. Within the past 52 weeks, PTR's P/B has been as high as 0.43 and as low as 0.26, with a median of 0.31.

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 prefered metric because revenue can't really be manipulated, so sales are often a truer performance indicator. PTR has a P/S ratio of 0.32. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.94.

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

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