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Should Value Investors Buy Orion Engineered Carbons (OEC) Stock?

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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.

Looking at the history of these trends, perhaps none is more beloved than value investing. This strategy simply looks to identify companies that are being undervalued by the broader 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.

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 Orion Engineered Carbons (OEC - Free Report) . OEC is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as an A grade for Value. The stock is trading with a P/E ratio of 6.30, which compares to its industry's average of 9.64. Over the past year, OEC's Forward P/E has been as high as 9.86 and as low as 5.64, with a median of 7.79.

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. OEC has a P/S ratio of 0.59. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.78.

Finally, our model also underscores that OEC has a P/CF ratio of 3.80. This metric takes into account a company's operating cash flow and can be used to find stocks that are undervalued based on their solid cash outlook. OEC's current P/CF looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/CF of 6.39. Over the past year, OEC's P/CF has been as high as 5.03 and as low as 3.37, with a median of 4.48.

These are only a few of the key metrics included in Orion Engineered Carbons's strong Value grade, but they help show that the stock is likely undervalued right now. When factoring in the strength of its earnings outlook, OEC looks like an impressive value stock at the moment.


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