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Are Investors Undervaluing Barrett Business Services (BBSI) 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, perhaps no stock market trend is more popular than value investing, which is a strategy that has proven to be successful in all sorts of market environments. Value investors use fundamental analysis and traditional valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are being undervalued by the market at large.

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.

Barrett Business Services (BBSI - Free Report) is a stock many investors are watching right now. BBSI is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and an A for Value. The stock holds a P/E ratio of 10.77, while its industry has an average P/E of 19.06. Over the past 52 weeks, BBSI's Forward P/E has been as high as 19.73 and as low as 10.05, with a median of 15.27.

Another notable valuation metric for BBSI is its P/B ratio of 4.28. The P/B is a method of comparing a stock's market value to its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. BBSI's current P/B looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/B of 6.64. Over the past year, BBSI's P/B has been as high as 9.36 and as low as 3.97, with a median of 6.24.

Value investors also use the P/S ratio. The P/S ratio is is calculated as price divided by sales. This is a popular metric because sales are harder to manipulate on an income statement, so they are often considered a better performance indicator. BBSI has a P/S ratio of 0.46. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.75.

Finally, investors should note that BBSI has a P/CF ratio of 11.85. 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. BBSI's P/CF compares to its industry's average P/CF of 15.70. Over the past 52 weeks, BBSI's P/CF has been as high as 22.59 and as low as 11.03, with a median of 17.39.

These are only a few of the key metrics included in Barrett Business Services'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, BBSI looks like an impressive value stock at the moment.


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