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Is Rent-A-Center (RCII) a Great Value Stock Right Now?

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Here at Zacks, our focus is on the proven Zacks Rank system, which emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find great stocks. Nevertheless, we are always paying attention to the latest value, growth, and momentum trends to underscore strong picks.

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.

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 Rent-A-Center . RCII is currently holding a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy) and a Value grade of A. The stock has a Forward P/E ratio of 10.41. This compares to its industry's average Forward P/E of 15.12. Over the past 52 weeks, RCII's Forward P/E has been as high as 18.02 and as low as 9.32, with a median of 11.

We should also highlight that RCII has a P/B ratio of 3.58. 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 7.92. Over the past 12 months, RCII's P/B has been as high as 4.89 and as low as 2.46, with a median of 3.54.

Value investors also love the P/S ratio, which is calculated by simply dividing a stock's price with the company's sales. This is a prefered metric because revenue can't really be manipulated, so sales are often a truer performance indicator. RCII has a P/S ratio of 0.52. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.84.

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

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