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Should Value Investors Buy AeroCentury (ACY) 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.

Considering these trends, value investing is clearly one of the most preferred ways to find strong stocks in any type of market. Value investors use fundamental analysis and traditional valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are being undervalued by the market at large.

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 AeroCentury . ACY is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as an A grade for Value.

Another valuation metric that we should highlight is ACY's P/B ratio of 0.45. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. This stock's P/B looks solid versus its industry's average P/B of 0.80. Over the past year, ACY's P/B has been as high as 0.52 and as low as 0.28, with a median of 0.46.

Value investors also frequently use the P/S ratio. This metric is found by dividing a stock's price with the company's revenue. This is a popular metric because sales are harder to manipulate on an income statement, so they are often considered a better performance indicator. ACY has a P/S ratio of 0.6. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.4.

Finally, investors should note that ACY has a P/CF ratio of 1.29. This data point considers a firm's operating cash flow and is frequently used to find companies that are undervalued when considering their solid cash outlook. ACY's P/CF compares to its industry's average P/CF of 2.57. Over the past year, ACY's P/CF has been as high as 1.56 and as low as 0.89, with a median of 1.18.

Value investors will likely look at more than just these metrics, but the above data helps show that AeroCentury is likely undervalued currently. And when considering the strength of its earnings outlook, ACY sticks out at as one of the market's strongest value stocks.

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