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Should Value Investors Buy Associated British Foods (ASBFY) Stock?

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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, 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.

On top of the Zacks Rank, investors can also look at our innovative Style Scores system to find stocks with specific traits. For example, value investors will want to focus on the "Value" category. Stocks with high Zacks Ranks and "A" grades for Value will be some of the highest-quality value stocks on the market today.

One company value investors might notice is Associated British Foods (ASBFY - Free Report) . ASBFY is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as a Value grade of A. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 12.82 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 16.91. ASBFY's Forward P/E has been as high as 15.34 and as low as 10.72, with a median of 13.30, all within the past year.

Investors should also note that ASBFY holds a PEG ratio of 1.33. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. ASBFY's industry has an average PEG of 1.92 right now. ASBFY's PEG has been as high as 2.38 and as low as 1.24, with a median of 1.82, all within the past year.

Another notable valuation metric for ASBFY is its P/B ratio of 1.65. 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. ASBFY's current P/B looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/B of 2.17. ASBFY's P/B has been as high as 1.73 and as low as 1.23, with a median of 1.43, over the past year.

These are only a few of the key metrics included in Associated British Foods's strong Value grade, but they help show that the stock is likely undervalued right now. When factoring in the strength of its earnings outlook, ASBFY looks like an impressive value stock at the moment.


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