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Are Investors Undervaluing Barrett Business Services (BBSI) Right Now?

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The proven Zacks Rank system focuses on earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find winning stocks. Nevertheless, we know that our readers all have their own perspectives, so we are always looking at the latest trends in value, growth, and momentum to find strong picks.

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 rely on traditional forms of analysis on key valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are undervalued, leaving room for profits.

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 value investors might notice is Barrett Business Services (BBSI - Free Report) . BBSI is currently holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and a Value grade of A. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 14.18 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 21.87. Over the past year, BBSI's Forward P/E has been as high as 19.73 and as low as 10.05, with a median of 14.47.

Another notable valuation metric for BBSI is its P/B ratio of 4.76. 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 attractive against its industry's average P/B of 7.71. BBSI's P/B has been as high as 9.36 and as low as 3.45, with a median of 5.54, 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. Some people prefer this metric because sales are harder to manipulate on an income statement. This means it could be a truer performance indicator. BBSI has a P/S ratio of 0.61. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.07.

Finally, investors will want to recognize that BBSI has a P/CF ratio of 13.85. 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. This stock's P/CF looks attractive against its industry's average P/CF of 19.26. BBSI's P/CF has been as high as 22.59 and as low as 10.03, with a median of 14.94, all within the past year.

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


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