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Should Value Investors Buy Great Elm Capital Group (GECC) 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 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 company to watch right now is Great Elm Capital Group (GECC - Free Report) . GECC is currently sporting a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), as well as an A grade for Value. The stock holds a P/E ratio of 7.8, while its industry has an average P/E of 12.80. GECC's Forward P/E has been as high as 8.02 and as low as 6.34, with a median of 7.06, all within the past year.

Another valuation metric that we should highlight is GECC's P/B ratio of 0.94. 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 company's current P/B looks solid when compared to its industry's average P/B of 2.78. Within the past 52 weeks, GECC's P/B has been as high as 0.97 and as low as 0.80, with a median of 0.90.

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. GECC has a P/S ratio of 1.66. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 2.91.

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

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