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Are Investors Undervaluing FBL Financial Group (FFG) 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, 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 a variety of methods, including tried-and-true valuation metrics, to find these stocks.

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.

FBL Financial Group is a stock many investors are watching right now. FFG is currently holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and a Value grade of A. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 7.79 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 10.23. Over the past 52 weeks, FFG's Forward P/E has been as high as 13.60 and as low as 6.42, with a median of 11.95.

We should also highlight that FFG has a P/B ratio of 0.62. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. FFG's current P/B looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/B of 1.37. Within the past 52 weeks, FFG's P/B has been as high as 1.30 and as low as 0.51, with a median of 0.97.

These are just a handful of the figures considered in FBL Financial Group's great Value grade. Still, they help show that the stock is likely being undervalued at the moment. Add this to the strength of its earnings outlook, and we can clearly see that FFG is an impressive value stock right now.

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