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Is US Foods (USFD) Stock Undervalued 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.

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.

US Foods (USFD - Free Report) is a stock many investors are watching right now. USFD is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as an A grade for Value. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 10.52 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 17.32. Over the past year, USFD's Forward P/E has been as high as 22.96 and as low as 10.17, with a median of 13.57.

Another valuation metric that we should highlight is USFD's P/B ratio of 1.62. Investors use the P/B ratio to look at a stock's market value versus 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 2.17. Over the past 12 months, USFD's P/B has been as high as 2.35 and as low as 1.56, with a median of 2.04.

Finally, we should also recognize that USFD has a P/CF ratio of 10.78. 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. USFD's P/CF compares to its industry's average P/CF of 16.97. USFD's P/CF has been as high as 17.69 and as low as 10.41, with a median of 14.28, all within the past year.

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


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