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Should Value Investors Buy Prudential Financial (PRU) Stock?

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The proven Zacks Rank system focuses on earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find winning stocks. Nevertheless, we know that our readers all have their own perspectives, so we are always looking at the latest trends in value, growth, and momentum to find strong picks.

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.

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.

One company to watch right now is Prudential Financial (PRU - Free Report) . PRU is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as an A grade for Value. The stock holds a P/E ratio of 8.37, while its industry has an average P/E of 10.12. Over the past year, PRU's Forward P/E has been as high as 10.48 and as low as 7.31, with a median of 8.60.

Investors should also note that PRU holds a PEG ratio of 0.68. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. PRU's PEG compares to its industry's average PEG of 1.11. Within the past year, PRU's PEG has been as high as 1.13 and as low as 0.68, with a median of 0.95.

Another notable valuation metric for PRU is its P/B ratio of 2.19. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against 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 3.07. PRU's P/B has been as high as 2.39 and as low as 0.62, with a median of 1.25, over the past year.

Value investors also use the P/S ratio. The P/S ratio is is calculated as price divided by sales. This is a prefered metric because revenue can't really be manipulated, so sales are often a truer performance indicator. PRU has a P/S ratio of 0.58. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.9.

These are just a handful of the figures considered in Prudential Financial'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 PRU is an impressive value stock right now.


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