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Should Value Investors Buy Citizens Community Bancorp (CZWI) 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, 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 a variety of methods, including tried-and-true valuation metrics, to find these stocks.

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 Citizens Community Bancorp (CZWI - Free Report) . CZWI is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as a Value grade of A. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 10.23 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 12.09. CZWI's Forward P/E has been as high as 12.93 and as low as 8.75, with a median of 10.63, all within the past year.

We should also highlight that CZWI has a P/B ratio of 0.82. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against 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 1.52. Over the past 12 months, CZWI's P/B has been as high as 0.97 and as low as 0.65, with a median of 0.81.

Value investors also frequently use the P/S ratio. This metric is found by dividing a stock's price with the company's revenue. This is a popular metric because sales are harder to manipulate on an income statement, so they are often considered a better performance indicator. CZWI has a P/S ratio of 1.51. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.69.

Finally, our model also underscores that CZWI has a P/CF ratio of 8.89. This metric takes into account a company's operating cash flow and can be used to find stocks that are undervalued based on their solid cash outlook. This stock's P/CF looks attractive against its industry's average P/CF of 22.27. Within the past 12 months, CZWI's P/CF has been as high as 9.23 and as low as 6.40, with a median of 7.93.

These are just a handful of the figures considered in Citizens Community Bancorp'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 CZWI is an impressive value stock right now.


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