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Are Investors Undervaluing AllianceBernstein (AB) 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.

Considering these trends, value investing is clearly one of the most preferred ways to find strong stocks in any type of market. 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 company to watch right now is AllianceBernstein (AB - Free Report) . AB is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy) and an A for Value. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 10.74 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 12.77. Over the last 12 months, AB's Forward P/E has been as high as 12.79 and as low as 4.90, with a median of 10.66.

Investors should also note that AB holds a PEG ratio of 0.69. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. AB's industry has an average PEG of 1.31 right now. Within the past year, AB's PEG has been as high as 2.60 and as low as 0.32, with a median of 1.79.

We should also highlight that AB has a P/B ratio of 1.69. Investors use the P/B ratio to look at a stock's market value versus 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 1.84. Over the past 12 months, AB's P/B has been as high as 2.27 and as low as 0.93, with a median of 1.91.

Value investors also use the P/S ratio. The P/S ratio is is calculated as price divided by sales. This is a popular metric because sales are harder to manipulate on an income statement, so they are often considered a better performance indicator. AB has a P/S ratio of 0.68. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.78.

Finally, our model also underscores that AB has a P/CF ratio of 10.10. This metric takes into account a company's operating cash flow and can be used to find stocks that are undervalued based on their solid cash outlook. This stock's P/CF looks attractive against its industry's average P/CF of 17.67. Over the past 52 weeks, AB's P/CF has been as high as 14.38 and as low as 5.88, with a median of 12.58.

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


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