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Are Investors Undervaluing Cars.com (CARS) Right Now?

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Here at Zacks, our focus is on the proven Zacks Rank system, which emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find great stocks. Nevertheless, we are always paying attention to the latest value, growth, and momentum trends to underscore strong picks.

Considering these trends, value investing is clearly one of the most preferred ways to find strong stocks in any type of market. 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 Cars.com (CARS - Free Report) . CARS is currently sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and an A for Value.

Another valuation metric that we should highlight is CARS's P/B ratio of 1.76. The P/B ratio is used to compare a stock's market value with its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. This stock's P/B looks solid versus its industry's average P/B of 5.23. Within the past 52 weeks, CARS's P/B has been as high as 2.64 and as low as 1.30, with a median of 1.74.

Value investors also love the P/S ratio, which is calculated by simply dividing a stock's price with the company's sales. Some people prefer this metric because sales are harder to manipulate on an income statement. This means it could be a truer performance indicator. CARS has a P/S ratio of 1.14. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.17.

Finally, we should also recognize that CARS has a P/CF ratio of 5.81. 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. CARS's current P/CF looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/CF of 15.20. CARS's P/CF has been as high as 9.20 and as low as 4.20, with a median of 5.76, all within the past year.

These are just a handful of the figures considered in Cars.com'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 CARS is an impressive value stock right now.


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