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Should Value Investors Buy Central Garden & Pet (CENT) 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, value investing is easily one of the most popular ways to find great stocks in any market environment. Value investors rely on traditional forms of analysis on key valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are undervalued, leaving room for profits.

Zacks has developed the innovative Style Scores system to highlight stocks with specific traits. For example, value investors will be interested in stocks with great grades in the "Value" category. When paired with a high Zacks Rank, "A" grades in the Value category are among the strongest value stocks on the market today.

One company to watch right now is Central Garden & Pet (CENT - Free Report) . CENT is currently sporting a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and an A for Value. The stock has a Forward P/E ratio of 12.91. This compares to its industry's average Forward P/E of 16.35. CENT's Forward P/E has been as high as 19.24 and as low as 12.63, with a median of 14.87, all within the past year.

Value investors also love the P/S ratio, which is calculated by simply dividing a stock's price with the company's sales. This is a preferred metric because revenue can't really be manipulated, so sales are often a truer performance indicator. CENT has a P/S ratio of 0.63. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.7.

Finally, we should also recognize that CENT has a P/CF ratio of 9.07. 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. CENT's P/CF compares to its industry's average P/CF of 15.42. Within the past 12 months, CENT's P/CF has been as high as 13.47 and as low as 8.76, with a median of 10.38.

Another great Consumer Products - Discretionary stock you could consider is Central Garden & Pet (CENTA - Free Report) , which is a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) stock with a Value Score of A.

Central Garden & Pet sports a P/B ratio of 1.24 as well; this compares to its industry's price-to-book ratio of 17.39. In the past 52 weeks, CENTA's P/B has been as high as 1.58, as low as 1.20, with a median of 1.35.

These are just a handful of the figures considered in Central Garden & Pet and Central Garden & Pet'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 CENT and CENTA is an impressive value stock right now.


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