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Are Investors Undervaluing Barrett Business Services (BBSI) 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.

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 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 Barrett Business Services (BBSI - Free Report) . BBSI is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as an A grade for Value. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 15 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 22.17. Over the past year, BBSI's Forward P/E has been as high as 16.31 and as low as 10.64, with a median of 13.54.

BBSI is also sporting a PEG ratio of 1.07. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. BBSI's PEG compares to its industry's average PEG of 2.19. BBSI's PEG has been as high as 1.17 and as low as 0.76, with a median of 0.97, all within the past year.

Another valuation metric that we should highlight is BBSI's P/B ratio of 4.26. 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. This company's current P/B looks solid when compared to its industry's average P/B of 12.66. Within the past 52 weeks, BBSI's P/B has been as high as 4.37 and as low as 3.08, with a median of 3.65.

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. BBSI has a P/S ratio of 0.75. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.18.

Finally, our model also underscores that BBSI has a P/CF ratio of 14.24. This data point considers a firm's operating cash flow and is frequently used to find companies that are undervalued when considering their solid cash outlook. This company's current P/CF looks solid when compared to its industry's average P/CF of 15.79. BBSI's P/CF has been as high as 14.79 and as low as 10.11, with a median of 12.44, all within the past year.

These are just a handful of the figures considered in Barrett Business Services's great Value grade. Still, they help show that the stock is likely being undervalued at the moment. Add this to the strength of its earnings outlook, and we can clearly see that BBSI is an impressive value stock right now.


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