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Should Value Investors Buy Lincoln National (LNC) 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.

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 to watch right now is Lincoln National (LNC - Free Report) . LNC is currently holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and a Value grade of A. The stock has a Forward P/E ratio of 4.69. This compares to its industry's average Forward P/E of 9.03. Over the past year, LNC's Forward P/E has been as high as 5.23 and as low as 3.30, with a median of 4.45.

We also note that LNC holds a PEG ratio of 0.28. This figure is similar to the commonly-used P/E ratio, with the PEG ratio also factoring in a company's expected earnings growth rate. LNC's industry has an average PEG of 0.80 right now. Within the past year, LNC's PEG has been as high as 0.28 and as low as 0.15, with a median of 0.22.

We should also highlight that LNC has a P/B ratio of 0.75. 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 stock's P/B looks attractive against its industry's average P/B of 2.07. LNC's P/B has been as high as 2.13 and as low as 0.65, with a median of 0.78, over the past year.

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. LNC has a P/S ratio of 0.42. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.98.

These are only a few of the key metrics included in Lincoln National'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, LNC looks like an impressive value stock at the moment.


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