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Is Private Bancorp of America (PBAM) a Great Value Stock 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.

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.

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 Private Bancorp of America (PBAM - Free Report) . PBAM is currently holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and a Value grade of A. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 5.92 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 10.50. Over the last 12 months, PBAM's Forward P/E has been as high as 8.54 and as low as 5.20, with a median of 6.44.

We should also highlight that PBAM has a P/B ratio of 1.09. 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 1.58. Over the past 12 months, PBAM's P/B has been as high as 1.43 and as low as 0.89, with a median of 1.12.

Value investors also love the P/S ratio, which is calculated by simply dividing a stock's price with the company's sales. Some people prefer this metric because sales are harder to manipulate on an income statement. This means it could be a truer performance indicator. PBAM has a P/S ratio of 1.62. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.67.

Finally, we should also recognize that PBAM has a P/CF ratio of 5.05. 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. PBAM's P/CF compares to its industry's average P/CF of 10.74. PBAM's P/CF has been as high as 6.85 and as low as 4.21, with a median of 5.54, all within the past year.

These figures are just a handful of the metrics value investors tend to look at, but they help show that Private Bancorp of America is likely being undervalued right now. Considering this, as well as the strength of its earnings outlook, PBAM feels like a great value stock at the moment.


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