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Is LPL Financial (LPLA) Stock Undervalued 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 rely on traditional forms of analysis on key valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are undervalued, leaving room for profits.

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 LPL Financial (LPLA - Free Report) . LPLA is currently holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and a Value grade of A.

LPLA is also sporting a PEG ratio of 0.73. This popular figure is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also considers a company's expected EPS growth rate. LPLA's industry has an average PEG of 0.74 right now. Within the past year, LPLA's PEG has been as high as 1.05 and as low as 0.60, with a median of 0.77.

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 prefered metric because revenue can't really be manipulated, so sales are often a truer performance indicator. LPLA has a P/S ratio of 1.17. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.45.

Finally, our model also underscores that LPLA has a P/CF ratio of 10.80. 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. LPLA's current P/CF looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/CF of 19.06. Over the past year, LPLA's P/CF has been as high as 16.17 and as low as 8.90, with a median of 11.59.

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


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