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Should Value Investors Buy Kaiser Aluminum (KALU) 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, value investing is easily one of the most popular ways to find great stocks in any market environment. Value investors use fundamental analysis and traditional valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are being undervalued by the market at large.

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 company to watch right now is Kaiser Aluminum (KALU - Free Report) . KALU is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), as well as a Value grade of A. The stock has a Forward P/E ratio of 14.58. This compares to its industry's average Forward P/E of 21.26. Over the last 12 months, KALU's Forward P/E has been as high as 26.64 and as low as 11.50, with a median of 14.12.

Value investors also use the P/S ratio. The P/S ratio is is calculated as price divided by sales. This is a popular metric because sales are harder to manipulate on an income statement, so they are often considered a better performance indicator. KALU has a P/S ratio of 0.38. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.81.

Finally, our model also underscores that KALU has a P/CF ratio of 6.92. 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. KALU's current P/CF looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/CF of 22.61. Within the past 12 months, KALU's P/CF has been as high as 10.80 and as low as 4.85, with a median of 7.47.

These are just a handful of the figures considered in Kaiser Aluminum'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 KALU is an impressive value stock right now.


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