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Are These Finance Stocks a Great Value Stocks Right Now?

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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 use tried-and-true metrics and fundamental analysis to find companies that they believe are undervalued at their current share price levels.

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.

One stock to keep an eye on is Chemung Financial Corp (CHMG - Free Report) . CHMG is currently holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and a Value grade of A. The stock is trading with a P/E ratio of 10.12, which compares to its industry's average of 12.53. Over the last 12 months, CHMG's Forward P/E has been as high as 11.56 and as low as 8.95, with a median of 9.96.

Another valuation metric that we should highlight is CHMG's P/B ratio of 1.05. The P/B ratio is used to compare a stock's market value with its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. This stock's P/B looks solid versus its industry's average P/B of 1.83. CHMG's P/B has been as high as 1.12 and as low as 0.78, with a median of 1.02, over the past year.

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. CHMG has a P/S ratio of 2.28. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 3.37.

Finally, our model also underscores that CHMG has a P/CF ratio of 6.39. 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. CHMG's current P/CF looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/CF of 16.39. CHMG's P/CF has been as high as 8.29 and as low as 6.18, with a median of 6.70, all within the past year.

Investors could also keep in mind Summit Financial Group (SMMF - Free Report) , an Banks - Southeast stock with a Zacks Rank of # 2 (Buy) and Value grade of A.

Additionally, Summit Financial Group has a P/B ratio of 1.16 while its industry's price-to-book ratio sits at 1.83. For SMMF, this valuation metric has been as high as 1.25, as low as 0.92, with a median of 1.05 over the past year.

These figures are just a handful of the metrics value investors tend to look at, but they help show that Chemung Financial Corp and Summit Financial Group are likely being undervalued right now. Considering this, as well as the strength of its earnings outlook, CHMG and SMMF feels like a great value stock at the moment.


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Summit Financial Group, Inc. (SMMF) - free report >>

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