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Should Value Investors Buy Carriage Services (CSV) Stock?

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While the proven Zacks Rank places an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find strong stocks, we also know that investors tend to develop their own individual strategies. With this in mind, we are always looking at value, growth, and momentum trends to discover great companies.

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 tried-and-true metrics and fundamental analysis to find companies that they believe are undervalued at their current share price levels.

Luckily, Zacks has developed its own Style Scores system in an effort to find stocks with specific traits. Value investors will be interested in the system's "Value" category. Stocks with both "A" grades in the Value category and high Zacks Ranks are among the strongest value stocks on the market right now.

One stock to keep an eye on is Carriage Services (CSV - Free Report) . CSV is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), as well as an A grade for Value. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 12.49 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 18.53. Over the last 12 months, CSV's Forward P/E has been as high as 13.29 and as low as 7.96, with a median of 11.02.

We also note that CSV holds a PEG ratio of 0.83. 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. CSV's PEG compares to its industry's average PEG of 1.79. Over the last 12 months, CSV's PEG has been as high as 0.89 and as low as 0.53, with a median of 0.73.

Another valuation metric that we should highlight is CSV's P/B ratio of 2.62. The P/B is a method of comparing a stock's market value to 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 6.05. CSV's P/B has been as high as 3.01 and as low as 1.87, with a median of 2.23, over the past year.

Finally, investors should note that CSV has a P/CF ratio of 9.22. 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. CSV's P/CF compares to its industry's average P/CF of 11.70. Over the past year, CSV's P/CF has been as high as 9.46 and as low as 5.86, with a median of 7.23.

These are only a few of the key metrics included in Carriage Services'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, CSV looks like an impressive value stock at the moment.


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