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Should Value Investors Buy American Vanguard (AVD) Stock?

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Here at Zacks, our focus is on the proven Zacks Rank system, which emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find great stocks. Nevertheless, we are always paying attention to the latest value, growth, and momentum trends to underscore strong picks.

Considering these trends, value investing is clearly one of the most preferred ways to find strong stocks in any type of market. Value investors use a variety of methods, including tried-and-true valuation metrics, to find these stocks.

In addition to the Zacks Rank, investors looking for stocks with specific traits can utilize our Style Scores system. Of course, value investors will be most interested in the system's "Value" category. Stocks with "A" grades for Value and high Zacks Ranks are among the best value stocks available at any given moment.

One company to watch right now is American Vanguard (AVD - Free Report) . AVD is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as an A grade for Value. The stock is trading with a P/E ratio of 16.62, which compares to its industry's average of 24.25. Over the past 52 weeks, AVD's Forward P/E has been as high as 37.83 and as low as 7.12, with a median of 15.05.

Value investors also use the P/S ratio. The P/S ratio is is calculated as price divided by sales. This is a prefered metric because revenue can't really be manipulated, so sales are often a truer performance indicator. AVD has a P/S ratio of 0.63. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.76.

Finally, investors will want to recognize that AVD has a P/CF ratio of 11.44. This figure highlights a company's operating cash flow and can be used to find firms that are undervalued when considering their impressive cash outlook. This stock's P/CF looks attractive against its industry's average P/CF of 12.87. AVD's P/CF has been as high as 14.09 and as low as 8.13, with a median of 10.58, 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 American Vanguard is likely being undervalued right now. Considering this, as well as the strength of its earnings outlook, AVD feels like a great value stock at the moment.


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