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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.

Looking at the history of these trends, perhaps none is more beloved than value investing. This strategy simply looks to identify companies that are being undervalued by the broader market. Value investors rely on traditional forms of analysis on key valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are undervalued, leaving room for profits.

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 #1 (Strong Buy), as well as a Value grade of A. The stock is trading with a P/E ratio of 15.39, which compares to its industry's average of 29.22. Over the past year, KALU's Forward P/E has been as high as 26.64 and as low as 11.50, with a median of 14.06.

Value investors also use the P/S ratio. The P/S ratio is calculated as price divided by sales. This is a preferred metric because revenue can't really be manipulated, so sales are often a truer performance indicator. KALU has a P/S ratio of 0.41. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.93.

These figures are just a handful of the metrics value investors tend to look at, but they help show that Kaiser Aluminum is likely being undervalued right now. Considering this, as well as the strength of its earnings outlook, KALU feels like a great value stock at the moment.


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