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Are Investors Undervaluing Cars.com (CARS) 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.

Looking at the history of these trends, perhaps none is more beloved than value investing. This strategy simply looks to identify companies that are being undervalued by the broader market. 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.

One company value investors might notice is Cars.com (CARS - Free Report) . CARS is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as a Value grade of A.

Investors will also notice that CARS has a PEG ratio of 2.09. 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. CARS's industry has an average PEG of 2.41 right now. Over the last 12 months, CARS's PEG has been as high as 2.09 and as low as 0.74, with a median of 1.51.

Value investors also use the P/S ratio. The P/S ratio is is calculated as price divided by sales. Some people prefer this metric because sales are harder to manipulate on an income statement. This means it could be a truer performance indicator. CARS has a P/S ratio of 1.06. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 2.11.

These are only a few of the key metrics included in Cars.com'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, CARS looks like an impressive value stock at the moment.


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