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Should Value Investors Buy Commercial Metals (CMC) 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.

Of these, value investing is easily one of the most popular ways to find great stocks in any market environment. Value investors rely on traditional forms of analysis on key valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are undervalued, leaving room for profits.

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 stock to keep an eye on is Commercial Metals (CMC - Free Report) . CMC is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and an A for Value.

Another valuation metric that we should highlight is CMC's P/B ratio of 1.67. The P/B is a method of comparing a stock's market value to its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. This company's current P/B looks solid when compared to its industry's average P/B of 1.85. Over the past year, CMC's P/B has been as high as 1.87 and as low as 1.24, with a median of 1.58.

Finally, our model also underscores that CMC has a P/CF ratio of 5.83. This metric focuses on a firm's operating cash flow and is often used to find stocks that are undervalued based on the strength of their cash outlook. CMC's current P/CF looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/CF of 11.43. Over the past year, CMC's P/CF has been as high as 5.85 and as low as 3.07, with a median of 4.40.

Another great Steel - Producers stock you could consider is POSCO (PKX - Free Report) , which is a # 2 (Buy) stock with a Value Score of A.

POSCO is trading at a forward earnings multiple of 9.43 at the moment, with a PEG ratio of 0.52. This compares to its industry's average P/E of 8.81 and average PEG ratio of 0.60.


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