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Is El Pollo Loco (LOCO) Stock Undervalued Right Now?

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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.

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 use a variety of methods, including tried-and-true valuation metrics, to find these stocks.

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 stock to keep an eye on is El Pollo Loco (LOCO - Free Report) . LOCO is currently sporting a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), as well as an A grade for Value. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 11.42 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 24.99. Over the past 52 weeks, LOCO's Forward P/E has been as high as 16.08 and as low as 9.83, with a median of 12.43.

Value investors also frequently use the P/S ratio. This metric is found by dividing a stock's price with the company's revenue. Some people prefer this metric because sales are harder to manipulate on an income statement. This means it could be a truer performance indicator. LOCO has a P/S ratio of 0.66. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.8.

Value investors will likely look at more than just these metrics, but the above data helps show that El Pollo Loco is likely undervalued currently. And when considering the strength of its earnings outlook, LOCO sticks out as one of the market's strongest value stocks.


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