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Is United Natural Foods (UNFI) a Great Value Stock Right Now?

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While the proven Zacks Rank places an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find strong stocks, we also know that investors tend to develop their own individual strategies. With this in mind, we are always looking at value, growth, and momentum trends to discover great companies.

Considering these trends, value investing is clearly one of the most preferred ways to find strong stocks in any type of market. Value investors rely on traditional forms of analysis on key valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are undervalued, leaving room for profits.

Zacks has developed the innovative Style Scores system to highlight stocks with specific traits. For example, value investors will be interested in stocks with great grades in the "Value" category. When paired with a high Zacks Rank, "A" grades in the Value category are among the strongest value stocks on the market today.

United Natural Foods (UNFI - Free Report) is a stock many investors are watching right now. UNFI is currently holding a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy) and a Value grade of A. The stock is trading with a P/E ratio of 10.29, which compares to its industry's average of 17.54. Over the past 52 weeks, UNFI's Forward P/E has been as high as 15.89 and as low as 4.35, with a median of 9.74.

Another notable valuation metric for UNFI is its P/B ratio of 1.58. 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 2.14. Within the past 52 weeks, UNFI's P/B has been as high as 1.89 and as low as 0.68, with a median of 1.38.

Finally, our model also underscores that UNFI has a P/CF ratio of 5.97. This metric focuses on a firm's operating cash flow and is often used to find stocks that are undervalued based on the strength of their cash outlook. UNFI's current P/CF looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/CF of 18.28. Over the past year, UNFI's P/CF has been as high as 7.14 and as low as 1, with a median of 2.41.

These are just a handful of the figures considered in United Natural Foods'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 UNFI is an impressive value stock right now.


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