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Is Associated British Foods (ASBFY) a Great Value Stock 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, 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 fundamental analysis and traditional valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are being undervalued by the market at large.

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.

One company to watch right now is Associated British Foods (ASBFY - Free Report) . ASBFY is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy) and an A for Value. The stock is trading with a P/E ratio of 14.16, which compares to its industry's average of 16.67. Over the past year, ASBFY's Forward P/E has been as high as 14.53 and as low as 10.72, with a median of 13.21.

We also note that ASBFY holds a PEG ratio of 1.37. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. ASBFY's industry has an average PEG of 1.89 right now. Within the past year, ASBFY's PEG has been as high as 2.24 and as low as 1.24, with a median of 1.79.

Another notable valuation metric for ASBFY is its P/B ratio of 1.84. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. ASBFY's current P/B looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/B of 2.20. ASBFY's P/B has been as high as 1.87 and as low as 1.28, with a median of 1.51, over the past year.

Investors could also keep in mind B&G Foods (BGS - Free Report) , an Food - Miscellaneous stock with a Zacks Rank of # 2 (Buy) and Value grade of A.

Furthermore, B&G Foods holds a P/B ratio of 1.03 and its industry's price-to-book ratio is 2.20. BGS's P/B has been as high as 1.37, as low as 0.66, with a median of 1.01 over the past 12 months.

These figures are just a handful of the metrics value investors tend to look at, but they help show that Associated British Foods and B&G Foods are likely being undervalued right now. Considering this, as well as the strength of its earnings outlook, ASBFY and BGS feels like a great value stock at the moment.


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