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Should Value Investors Buy Shell (SHEL) 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 use fundamental analysis and traditional valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are being undervalued by the market at large.

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 Shell (SHEL - Free Report) . SHEL is currently sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), as well as an A grade for Value.

Another notable valuation metric for SHEL is its P/B ratio of 1.14. 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. SHEL's current P/B looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/B of 2.34. Within the past 52 weeks, SHEL's P/B has been as high as 1.24 and as low as 0.99, with a median of 1.12.

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. SHEL has a P/S ratio of 1. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.03.

Finally, our model also underscores that SHEL has a P/CF ratio of 5.43. 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. SHEL's P/CF compares to its industry's average P/CF of 8.10. Over the past year, SHEL's P/CF has been as high as 5.67 and as low as 4.14, with a median of 4.86.

These are only a few of the key metrics included in Shell's strong Value grade, but they help show that the stock is likely undervalued right now. When factoring in the strength of its earnings outlook, SHEL looks like an impressive value stock at the moment.

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