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Are Investors Undervaluing CNO Financial Group (CNO) Right Now?

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Here at Zacks, we focus on our proven ranking system, which places an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, to find winning stocks. But we also understand that investors develop their own strategies, so we are constantly looking at the latest trends in value, growth, and momentum to find strong companies for our readers.

Of these, value investing is easily one of the most popular ways to find great stocks in any market environment. Value investors use a variety of methods, including tried-and-true valuation metrics, to find these stocks.

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 stock to keep an eye on is CNO Financial Group (CNO - Free Report) . CNO is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as an A grade for Value.

Another notable valuation metric for CNO is its P/B ratio of 1.61. The P/B ratio is used to compare a stock's market value with its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. CNO's current P/B looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/B of 2.67. Over the past 12 months, CNO's P/B has been as high as 2.13 and as low as 1.15, with a median of 1.40.

Value investors also love the P/S ratio, which is calculated by simply dividing a stock's price with the company's sales. This is a prefered metric because revenue can't really be manipulated, so sales are often a truer performance indicator. CNO has a P/S ratio of 0.76. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.99.

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


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