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Should Value Investors Buy Associated British Foods (ASBFY) 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.

Considering these trends, value investing is clearly one of the most preferred ways to find strong stocks in any type of market. Value investors use a variety of methods, including tried-and-true valuation metrics, to find these stocks.

Luckily, Zacks has developed its own Style Scores system in an effort to find stocks with specific traits. Value investors will be interested in the system's "Value" category. Stocks with both "A" grades in the Value category and high Zacks Ranks are among the strongest value stocks on the market right now.

One company to watch right now is Associated British Foods (ASBFY - Free Report) . ASBFY 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 13.18 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 17.22. Over the last 12 months, ASBFY's Forward P/E has been as high as 15.72 and as low as 9.30, with a median of 13.31.

Another valuation metric that we should highlight is ASBFY's P/B ratio of 1.23. 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 2.34. Over the past 12 months, ASBFY's P/B has been as high as 1.37 and as low as 0.75, with a median of 1.13.

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


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