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Should Value Investors Buy First Guaranty Bancshares (FGBI) 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, value investing is easily one of the most popular ways to find great stocks in any market environment. Value investors use tried-and-true metrics and fundamental analysis to find companies that they believe are undervalued at their current share price levels.

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 First Guaranty Bancshares (FGBI - Free Report) . FGBI is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as a Value grade of A.

Investors should also recognize that FGBI has a P/B ratio of 0.56. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. FGBI's current P/B looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/B of 1.62. Within the past 52 weeks, FGBI's P/B has been as high as 0.84 and as low as 0.52, with a median of 0.61.

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. FGBI has a P/S ratio of 0.65. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.71.

Finally, our model also underscores that FGBI has a P/CF ratio of 7.95. 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. FGBI's P/CF compares to its industry's average P/CF of 12.01. Over the past 52 weeks, FGBI's P/CF has been as high as 10.59 and as low as 3.86, with a median of 5.94.

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


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