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Are Investors Undervaluing Greenbrier Companies (GBX) 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 use fundamental analysis and traditional valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are being undervalued by the market at large.

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.

Greenbrier Companies (GBX - Free Report) is a stock many investors are watching right now. GBX is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and an A for Value. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 8.84 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 10.05. GBX's Forward P/E has been as high as 15.76 and as low as 8.84, with a median of 12.62, all within the past year.

We also note that GBX holds a PEG ratio of 0.93. 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. GBX's PEG compares to its industry's average PEG of 0.99. Over the past 52 weeks, GBX's PEG has been as high as 1.66 and as low as 0.93, with a median of 1.33.

Investors should also recognize that GBX has a P/B ratio of 0.91. The P/B is a method of comparing a stock's market value to 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 1.14. Over the past year, GBX's P/B has been as high as 1.50 and as low as 0.91, with a median of 1.20.

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 popular metric because sales are harder to manipulate on an income statement, so they are often considered a better performance indicator. GBX has a P/S ratio of 0.49. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.

These are only a few of the key metrics included in Greenbrier Companies's strong Value grade, but they help show that the stock is likely undervalued right now. When factoring in the strength of its earnings outlook, GBX looks like an impressive value stock at the moment.


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