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Are Investors Undervaluing Reinsurance Group of America (RGA) Right Now?

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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.

Of these, value investing is easily one of the most popular ways to find great stocks in any market environment. Value investors use a variety of methods, including tried-and-true valuation metrics, to find these stocks.

In addition to the Zacks Rank, investors looking for stocks with specific traits can utilize our Style Scores system. Of course, value investors will be most interested in the system's "Value" category. Stocks with "A" grades for Value and high Zacks Ranks are among the best value stocks available at any given moment.

One company to watch right now is Reinsurance Group of America (RGA - Free Report) . RGA is currently sporting a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and an A for Value. The stock holds a P/E ratio of 7.54, while its industry has an average P/E of 10.61. RGA's Forward P/E has been as high as 10.24 and as low as 7.17, with a median of 8.48, all within the past year.

Another valuation metric that we should highlight is RGA's P/B ratio of 1.02. Investors use the P/B ratio to look at a stock's market value versus its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. This stock's P/B looks attractive against its industry's average P/B of 2.22. RGA's P/B has been as high as 1.47 and as low as 0.96, with a median of 1.18, over 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. RGA has a P/S ratio of 0.65. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.74.

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

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