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Should Value Investors Buy United Microelectronics (UMC) 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 use fundamental analysis and traditional valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are being undervalued by the market at large.

Zacks has developed the innovative Style Scores system to highlight stocks with specific traits. For example, value investors will be interested in stocks with great grades in the "Value" category. When paired with a high Zacks Rank, "A" grades in the Value category are among the strongest value stocks on the market today.

One company to watch right now is United Microelectronics (UMC - Free Report) . UMC 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 10.81, while its industry has an average P/E of 28.32. Over the last 12 months, UMC's Forward P/E has been as high as 12.36 and as low as 8.33, with a median of 10.30.

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. UMC has a P/S ratio of 2.7. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 2.94.

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


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