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Should Value Investors Buy KB Home (KBH) 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, 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.

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 KB Home (KBH - Free Report) . KBH is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as a Value grade of A. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 6.16 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 7.80. Over the past year, KBH's Forward P/E has been as high as 12.05 and as low as 5.85, with a median of 8.24.

We also note that KBH holds a PEG ratio of 0.38. This figure is similar to the commonly-used P/E ratio, with the PEG ratio also factoring in a company's expected earnings growth rate. KBH's industry currently sports an average PEG of 1.11. Over the last 12 months, KBH's PEG has been as high as 1.89 and as low as 0.33, with a median of 0.46.

Investors should also recognize that KBH has a P/B ratio of 1.31. The P/B is a method of comparing a stock's market value to 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 1.61. KBH's P/B has been as high as 1.71 and as low as 1.07, with a median of 1.36, over the past year.

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. KBH has a P/S ratio of 0.78. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.82.

Value investors will likely look at more than just these metrics, but the above data helps show that KB Home is likely undervalued currently. And when considering the strength of its earnings outlook, KBH sticks out at as one of the market's strongest value stocks.


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